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SLO County declares homeless crisis

February 3, 2016

HomelessSweep-campThe San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to declare a homeless shelter crisis. The declaration allows officials to open up county buildings at night so the homeless can stay warm.

The board also authorized spending a total of $10,000 on addressing the problem. Local homeless services providers can apply for the funds.

Additionally, the board urged city councils in SLO County to follow its lead by also declaring a shelter crisis and allocating $10,000 toward warming centers.

Despite there being a crisis declaration, local warming centers are not currently at capacity. There are 112 beds at warming centers in the county, and no more than 68 have been full on any night this year.

The warming centers are not full due in part to staffing shortages. Also, some homeless individuals choose not to go them because they cannot bring their pets and all of their belongings, county officials said.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Supervisor Adam Hill asked if county funds could be used to place the homeless at campgrounds. Hill noted that some homeless people need places to put their pets and possessions.

Dee Torres-Hill speaking on behalf of CAPSLO.

Dee Torres-Hill speaking on behalf of CAPSLO.

County administrator Dan Buckshi said the shelter crisis designation refers only to county buildings and not campgrounds.

Some critics of Hill allege the supervisor created a conflict of interest by raising the issue of campgrounds. Hill’s wife, Dee Torres-Hill, runs a nonprofit that is currently trying to place homeless individuals in campgrounds.

The county’s shelter crisis will sunset on April 15.


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TAKE ACTION!!! Go to http://www.FireAdamHill.com print Fire Adam Hill fliers and spread them all over San Luis Obispo County especially district 3. Let’s take SLO back.


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Sounds good to me. Let them move into the county buildings. They have showers, adequate toilets, likely stocked refrigerators and lots of expense equipment.


Let us know how that works out.


Has Dee Torres already applied for and procured the $10k in emergency funds? Is it payable in Amazon gift cards?


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Simply put, this is a hamster wheel.

Provide more services, attract more homeless, create the need for more services…

Round and round we go…

Thie homeless have become Dee’s personal make-work project, not to mention a revenue stream for her non-profit.


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Simple laws of supply and demand and how subsidies work. If you want more of something, then subsidize it.


Increase food stamps – now there are 47 million people on food stamps.


Subsidize homelessness and homelessness increases. Then government says, we need more money to address the homeless issue.


Perhaps it is because some of those casting votes directly profit from this situation.


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Adam and Dee could approach the San Luis Country Club (their home base) and ask the Country Club to allow tents on the 18th hole. There is a lot of room out there to pitch a couple of hundred tents and then Dee could do her work going over and teaching them to use trash bage, trash cans and keeping their surrounding clean and orderly. No one, no matter how poor, should live like pigs and then expect people to feel sorry for them. Take some pride in yourself and your surroundings!


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SLOBIRD, You of all people know better than this. You know that most homeless people are like everyone else. There is always one or two that make a mess and the whole population gets blamed for it, just like at a football game, at the beach, or even at church. There is always one or two in any population that make a mess. But there are also some that go beyond and actually patrol and clean their areas because they don’t want to ‘live like pigs’. Homeless people are not dirty. Homeless people use the resources available. Give the a space with a trash can and most will be sure to use it.


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SLO County has an Adam Hill crisis.


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Adam, given your stellar record of compassionate cooperation with state parks, maybe they will want to make you look good and open up monarch butterfly grove to the homeless. But I don’t think so. You’d have better luck asking Target for more free gift cards.


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Greater funding equals greater crisis. If there were no funding, the crisis would go elsewhere. As far as warming centers, the money would best be spent on bus tickets to Baja Sur California where tortillas are cheap and homeless Americans can truly learn to improve their skills on this six month sabbatical.


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Wow I bet they even would declare a drought. Look at government salaries and benefits and see where a lot of money that could go to “problems” could come from. Housing, look at the fees just to break ground, everyone wants a piece of the pie.


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And that is the problem the price to break ground. It is impossible to get a developer to build anything low income people can afford because the county charges so much in permits. What about exempting low cost housing from permit charges and then the cost of housing would drop. But most of the ‘haves’ don’t want to increase the population and let the ‘have nots’ move in. The prefer it just the way it is, too expensive to afford. And that is why we have to huge population of homeless. What can a disable person afford on a $872. a month income from social security? I am tired of the ‘send them somewhere else’ response. You don’t think other counties are saying the same thing? The only thing that is going to help is to build and to make it affordable, and if you want to play word games about affordable, pretend like you make thirty thousand a year, and ask yourself, can I afford this. And if they can’t buy, look at the cost of rent. Many homeless are on SSI and can’t pay more than five hundred a month for rent and that is really pushing it. So what is the answer? Were can they go to find housing?


SLO County Planning and SLO BOS needs to solve the housing crisis. Everything else is just talk.


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That’s just what we need when we try to take our families camping. A campground full of bums, druggies, and panhandlers. How about doing something for the hard working members of our community instead of always pandering to the bottom of the barrel.


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Wrong, what we need is less ignorance and more awareness.


Stop lumping all the homeless into one box. Not ALL are bums, druggies and panhandlers. LEARN the difference between those you CHOOSE to be homeless…and those you have it thrust upon them.


Educate yourself on the truth about homelessness and it’s causes and maybe your vision would gain some clarity.


And yes, I was once homeless many years ago…my family were not bums or druggies, but instead we were victims of circumstance. The same applies today…many of our homeless are foster kids who were let down by “the system”…military vets damaged for life…single moms trying to pull themselves up from poverty…mentally challenged and physically disabled…why do you categorize them as “THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL”?


Are these not ALSO members of our community deserving of a roof over their heads?


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