In the fall of 2024, the City of San Diego expanded its Safe Sleeping Program, which provides safe, legal, city-approved tent encampments and supportive services for people facing homelessness. 

The low-barrier option provides a safe shelter tent, electronic charging stations, housing navigation, meals, health care, transportation, veterinary care, and other supportive services at two city properties in San Diego. 

Each tent can shelter up to two individuals, allowing folks to stay with a partner or caretaker while they access services.

The program was first implemented in the summer of 2023 to address unsheltered homelessness and unsafe street encampments, with 500 tents. 

In 2024, Mayor Todd Gloria added 250 more tents to the program to help offset a shortage of shelter beds in San Diego.

“Safe Sleeping is a first-of-its-kind program that provides an opportunity for people who previously hadn’t accepted city services to take a crucial first step toward ending their homelessness,” Mayor Gloria said in a statement. 

“Cities across the country are taking note of this innovative way to remove unsanitary encampments and get unsheltered people into care.” 

Of course, while the tents provide life-saving emergency shelter, they are not a long-term solution to homelessness. 

Mayor Garcia said his administration will “continue to get people off the streets and on the path to housing,” with the Safe Sleeping Program as part of a larger Comprehensive Shelter Strategy created by the city. 

With two homeless shelters closing in the area at the end of 2024, the 750 tents in the Safe Sleeping rotation are paramount to keeping people safe and sheltered in times of crisis.

“Housing placements are the ultimate goal, but that can take time and there needs to be safe and secure options for people to work to end one’s experience of homelessness,” said Sarah Jarman, director of the city’s Homelessness Strategies and Solutions Department. 

“With this Safe Sleeping expansion, we’re able to quickly add much-needed sheltering options while planning is underway for additional programs.” 

Since the inception of the program, at least 82 people have moved from the city’s two campsites into permanent homes, according to Voice of San Diego. That’s about 10% of the people who have utilized the Safe Sleeping Program.

The Safe Sleeping locations are located on the outskirts of Balboa Park and are managed by the nonprofit Dreams for Change. The organization aims to use this initiative to help lower the barrier to entry for unhoused community members who may be hesitant to seek support. 

“The biggest joy next to a client obtaining their own place is the client who we have been told has been shelter and service resistant for many years asks us to help them take that first step,” Dreams for Change CEO Teresa Smith told Voice of San Diego, “be it detox and rehab, healthcare or simply willing to explore what it will take to move forward.”

For residents of the Safe Sleeping locations, staying in encampments has often already become a norm. But receiving tent-side services, and not worrying about camping laws or harassment has made all the difference.

“It was safer being in the Safe Sleeping, because I didn't have to worry about people coming after me with a knife and gun,” resident Karen Sengstock said in a video for the nonprofit. “It helped me a lot.”

One resident, Seth Eastep, was living outside of a public library prior to moving to a Safe Sleeping location. Now, he works for Dreams for Change as a member of the onsite security team.

“People look up to me,” Eastep said in a video. “With Dreams for Change, I’m feeling that happiness back in my life. That’s driving me more towards where I gotta be.”

Smith said this kind of transformation is vital to the dignity and agency of those seeking help.

“It really helps them empower their lives,” she said. “Knowing that this is your life and we’re here to help, versus you’re in our space and you need to do what we need you to do.”

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Header image courtesy of the City of San Diego