Feel free to modify/personalize as you might wish…

Dear Congressman Peters, Mayor Gloria & Councilmember Campbell,

I am writing to express my concern regarding the “NTC H-Barracks” option, as set forth in the City of San Diego Comprehensive Shelter Strategy (dated June 8, 2023). This option proposes housing 300-700 more homeless persons in permanent tent encampments, full time, at a projected cost of $7.7 to $20M, in what is currently the “NTC H-Barracks.”

I applaud the City’s efforts to identify appropriate and constructive locations where people experiencing homelessness can receive needed shelter, food, medical and mental health care and counseling, and other resources and services. However, this proposed location at NTC H-Barracks is not appropriate for this purpose, and will present an unacceptable public health and public safety threat to the families and businesses of the surrounding community.

As you know, NTC H-Barracks sits between the San Diego International Airport and the NTC South waterfront area, immediately adjacent to two hotels and the San Diego International Airport. It is directly across North Harbor Drive from Spanish Landing Park and San Diego Bay, and is just across a pedestrian and bicycle bridge from Liberty Station. This area is essentially San Diego’s front porch.  

There are a vast number of family households, many of them active military, near the NTC H-Barracks site. The Admiralty Row, Beacon Point and Anchor Cove Liberty Station neighborhoods represent hundreds of homes, condominiums, and families. There are also 500 more families in military family housing on the south side of the Admiralty Row and Beacon point community and just outside Liberty Station, on Barnett Avenue.  All these homes are occupied, mostly by families, many with young children of school age that attend schools within and within walking distance of Liberty Station. Altogether there are nine (9) San Diego City School certified campuses on and near Liberty Station.

As a result, a permanent tent encampment for the unhoused in the H-Barracks site will inevitably cause increased interactions between occupants of the encampment – and non-occupants who will nonetheless be drawn to it – and the families & children who attend those schools and play in those parks and streets. This is a recipe for disaster, conflict & trauma; school-age children should not be purposefully caused to be co-located and interfaced with the unhoused community, many of whom are suffering with the afflictions of mental health challenges, and drug & alcohol addiction. These resulting interactions will occur and recur in and around public areas – including streets, parks, restaurants, stores and other businesses – which are outside the immediate jurisdiction or purview of the City staff who will ostensibly be overseeing operations of the encampment. This means that there will be a correlative increase in calls
to & demand on our already overtaxed law enforcement & public safety officers, and first responders such as SDFD Station 22 in Point Loma, Station 15 in Ocean Beach, and Station 21 in Midway/Sports Arena. Further, it would be unrealistic to assume that such interactions will not also spill over into the adjacent Airport properties, including parking lots, access roads, and the terminals themselves, which are
ultimately open to the public.

These kinds of interactions will also be on display in full view of the endless flow of visitors which traverse these neighborhoods daily on their way into and out of San Diego, lifeblood as they are of our vibrant tourism industry. It is difficult to understand why we would choose to present anything less but the best of what San Diego experiences, images and memories can be for these visitors, and all San Diegans, as they pass through the literal “front porch” of San Diego.

The bottom line is the NTC H-Barracks site is not an acceptable location for this proposed homeless tent
encampment, given the obvious negative public heath, public safety, and economic ramifications that would immediately impact the surrounding neighborhoods. I respectfully request that you make every effort to remove this location from consideration within the City’s Comprehensive Shelter Strategy, and redirect the significant amount of public resources that it would require to better serve the very real needs of our unhoused population at other more viable venues.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration, and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Sincerely,
Your name, street (not necessarily address) and zip code (zip is very important)