No Good?

- Photo by Kelly Davis

If the pending closure of the Neil Good Day Center doesn’t offend folks’ moral sensibilities, maybe it’ll offend their sense of smell.

“There’s going to be several hundred people who won’t have access to bathrooms during the day,” said Bob McElroy. “Where do you think the excrement’s going to go?”

Two weeks ago, McElroy, whose Alpha Project contracts with the city to run the day center—which provides a range of services to homeless people, including mail, showers and bathrooms—received a letter from the San Diego Housing Commission saying it was time to begin planning for the day center’s closure on July 1.

Maria Velasquez, spokesperson for the Housing Commission, which oversees homeless services for the city, told CityBeat that nothing’s changed since the letter went out.

Federal Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)—targeted to low- and moderate-income communities to prevent or eliminate blight and meet urgent health and safety needs—have funded the day center’s operation, roughly $500,000 annually. But in March, the City Council didn’t recommend Neil Good for funding. Council members CityBeat spoke to said they had to weigh worthy programs against an anticipated cut in this year’s CDBG allocation. A majority of the council also rejected a plan to fund Neil Good with redevelopment loan repayments, arguing it was unfair to give the day center priority over other programs.

But, McElroy pointed out, unlike those other programs, Neil Good, located on the edge of East Village near 17th and K streets, is the city’s facility.

“The city created it,” he said. “Neil Good has always been, continues to be, a city facility.”

The day center’s place in the city’s continuum of homeless services has been memorialized in planning and policy documents.

From the City Council’s Comprehensive Homeless Policy, drawn up in 1995: “Day Center services will be made available to the homeless population when needed, in order to offer unsheltered homeless persons a place to be during the daytime; personal hygiene services; and an entry point into shelters and other support services.”

And, in the city’s Consolidated Plan, which it’s required to create to be eligible for CDBG money, Neil Good is identified as a service that fulfills the goal to: “Provide shelter for persons who are homeless and assist them in moving out of homelessness.”  

This point was underscored at a recent City Council committee meeting by LeSar Development principal Matt Doherty, who’s heading up a plan to move people off the street and into supportive housing.

“I really worry about what the progress will be towards our path of ending homelessness if the Neil Good Day Center is not operating past July 1,” Doherty said.

Assistant Police Chief Boyd Long said the police department is anticipating an increase in calls for service.
“We’re prepared for that if, in fact, it doesn’t stay open,” he said.

“If the city takes it away,” McElroy said, “that neighborhood is going to feel the consequences.”