Encinitas News Update: New Project Funded to End Homelessness

• Neighborhoods and News
• July 29, 2016

Happy Friday everyone! I thought we could start out the weekend with an extremely heart-warming news update from our very own Encinitas Advocate. Reporter Barbara Henry wrote about Encinitas’ new Opening Doors pilot project which was approved for the new budget on June 22^nd. This new project was proposed by the Community Resource Center and Interfaith Community Services. The city approved a funding of $108,000 which went into effect on July 1^st.

Azucena Acosta, MSW, a professional social worker, has been recruited by the project to be, what they call, a “Housing Navigator”. A position in which Acosta meets with the homeless and walks them through all the steps needed to go about obtaining housing. In addition, $15,000 of the funding will go towards singular payments for landlords who accept new tenants who were previously homeless. The project’s first goal is to match 50 homeless people in Encinitas with the Housing Navigator and their second goal is to then obtain housing for 25 of those who were previously homeless before the trial time period ends. The Opening Doors program is a part of a larger national project called 25 Cities Initiative which was instigated by the federal Housing and Urban Development agency. The initiative is targeting 25 cities that have large homeless populations, one of the cities being San Diego.

As a real estate agent, my job is to help people find the warm and happy home that they wish to create memories in. Sometimes it is so easy to forget that so many people don’t have any roof over their heads whatsoever. This need not be something that makes us feel guilty but rather extremely grateful for the lovely homes we have and spur us on to use all that have been lucky enough to have in our lives to help others who are in need. The smallest things can be a beautiful gesture of care to those who are in need. You can volunteer or donate but just a simple smile to someone who doesn’t receive one very often can make a world of difference. I am proud to be in the business of helping families find their ‘home sweet home’. I am, also, exceedingly proud to inhabit a city that has dedicated such substantial funds to help those without any place to call their own find their very own ‘home sweet home’ as well.

Check out the original article:

http://www.encinitasadvocate.com/news/2016/jul/25/encinitas-homeless-opening-doors/