San Diego CA– Father Joe’s Villages says recommendations on homelessness issues from the Mayor’s bipartisan One San Diego Transition Advisory Committee strike the right chord. By recommending a diverse approach and focusing on producing good outcomes for San Diego’s homeless in a cost-sensitive way, the team shows an understanding that a comprehensive approach is the right way to solve homelessness in San Diego.
“We applaud the mayor and the transition advisory committee for a job well done,” said Diane Stumph, interim president and CEO. “Their plan recognizes the fundamental truth that we have learned as the largest and one of the most diverse homeless service providers in the city– there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this complicated and highly individualized issue facing our region.”
Stumph says the plan rightly focuses on creating a balanced system that supports existing programs but that also calls for the creation of new solutions. This will allow housing and services to be tailored to the needs of each individual and family while at the same time emphasizing successful outcomes and limiting waste of financial resources. She says the teams at Father Joe’s Villages and its partner agencies looks forward to working with Mayor Faulconer’s administration and the City Council on their shared vision of ending homelessness in San Diego.
San Diego is home to more than 8,500 homeless men, women and families, making it the fourth largest population of homeless in the U.S. and the third largest for homeless veterans. In 2013, Father Joe’s Villages and partner agencies provided services to more than 15,000 people, served up to 3,000 meals daily to the homeless and working poor and helped seven out of 10 people served by Village programs to exit to permanent housing.
For more information on other services and programs, visit www.neighbor.org.
ABOUT FATHER JOE’S VILLAGES/ST. VINCENT DE PAUL VILLAGE
As Southern California’s largest residential homeless services provider, Father Joe’s Villages and partner agency St. Vincent de Paul Village have been empowering people to achieve self-sufficiency for over 62 years. What started as a small chapel serving San Diego’s impoverished has grown into a cutting-edge provider of innovative housing programs and services. Father Joe’s Villages and St. Vincent de Paul Village prepare up to 3,000 meals and provide a continuum of care to nearly 1,500 individuals every day—from infants and adolescents to adults and seniors. This includes over 200 children and over 200 military veterans. As industry thought-leaders, the two agencies offer innovative solutions to address the complex needs of the homeless, regardless of age, race, culture or beliefs. The organizations’ primary goal is to transform lives and end the cycle of homelessness. To this end they provide housing, healthcare, food, clothing, education, job training and child development in an internationally modeled “one-stop-shop” approach. The organizations’ mission is made possible only through the efforts of compassionate staff, dedicated volunteers, and generous public and private donors. For more information, please visit: http://www.neighbor.org.