OCEANSIDE
The row of tents lining a side street near Oceanside Boulevard looks alarming at first sight, and anyone passing by might expect to see the area overrun with the trash and clutter generally associated with homeless encampments.
A closer look, however, reveals the area is spotless. The tents look new, clean, and in a uniform order, with each one separated by a short, red, tented storage bin.
“We understand that trashing this area is the number one reason why people wouldn’t want us here,” said Rodney McGough, a homeless man who lives at the site and has led the effort to keep it clean.
As COVID-19 spreads unchecked across the region and state, San Diego County officials are leaving vacant hundreds of hotel rooms they had reserved for sick or at-risk people, even though much of the cost is being subsidized by state and federal relief funds.
The county’s level of participation in one hotel shelter program was so minimal that just 6 percent of the available rooms were occupied last month.
Last week, after a major outbreak recently infected at least 170 people at the San Diego Convention Center’s temporary homeless shelter, the occupancy rate of hotels in the program rose to 26 percent.