A plan by Encinitas to reserve up to 12 beds at a National City homeless shelter has prompted debate over regional responsibility for homelessness. National City’s mayor and the shelter’s operator say the arrangement is temporary until a North County facility opens potentially next year in Escondido.
The Encinitas City Council voted unanimously Sept. 16 to pursue exclusive use of up to 12 beds at the San Diego Rescue Mission’s South County Lighthouse in National City. The vote ends the city’s participation in the Buena Creek Navigation Center, a shelter it has shared with Vista since 2024, after Vista recently indicated it wants to start using the entire center.
Under the proposal, Encinitas would pay $87 per bed per night and be charged only for nights the beds are occupied, according to an Encinitas staff report. The maximum annual cost would be $381,060. Keeping its 12 beds at the Vista shelter was projected to cost Encinitas about $715,000 in the coming year.
Rescue Mission’s South County Lighthouse on Monday, June 10, 2024 in National City, California.(Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The Encinitas council is expected to vote on a contract amendment with the Rescue Mission on Oct. 14.
Encinitas Mayor Bruce Ehlers said Thursday that Vista had made clear it wanted Encinitas’ 12 beds back. Continuing at Buena Creek on its own, he said, would have cost the city about double the Rescue Mission option.
“We always knew and Vista made it pretty clear that they didn’t want us to continue,” Ehlers said. “It simply came back to a better use of money.”
National City Councilmember Jose Rodriguez, a mayoral candidate, issued a statement Sept. 24 opposing the plan. He argued that the shelter, about 30 miles from Encinitas City Hall, would shift Encinitas’ responsibility onto a city with fewer resources.
“National City is already fighting for scarce resources as we navigate our ongoing budget crisis,” Rodriguez said in the statement. “Encinitas has the second-highest household income in the county, National City’s is the lowest.”
The statement said National City will keep doing its part on homelessness, but cannot take on more of the region’s responsibility.
“Encinitas has every resource it needs to shelter their homeless population, and it is choosing to ship that responsibility to a working-class city that is stretched thin and already doing more than its share,” he said.
Ehlers said he views the National City arrangement as temporary until the Rescue Mission opens a North County shelter. He said the city wants the beds closer to home so homeless residents can stay near family and friends.
“My comment would be that we don’t see this as a permanent solution,” Ehlers said, adding that “the closer they are to Encinitas, the better.”
National City Mayor Ron Morrison said the shelter was never intended to serve only his city. He said it was meant for the broader South Bay.
“From day one, if any of us were paying attention, we knew that this was not going to be exclusive to National City,” Morrison said.
Morrison said he learned of the Encinitas deal a few weeks ago and called Donnie Dee, president and CEO of the Rescue Mission, for details. He said he told Dee he was disappointed the organization had not informed National City in advance.
Morrison said he does not object to neighboring areas using the shelter, but he would object if National City residents on a waiting list were passed over.
“That’s what I’ve got a problem with,” he said.
Dee said the arrangement grew out of the Rescue Mission’s existing outreach contract with Encinitas. The organization has no North County shelter, he said, so it took on the 12 beds Encinitas lost at Buena Creek.
“This is just a creative funding strategy that we have for 12 of our 162 beds,” Dee said.
Dee said National City pays nothing for beds at the shelter, which he said is almost entirely privately funded. A Rescue Mission fact sheet says the Lighthouse has served 494 National City residents. It also says 95% of individuals from National City get a shelter bed within one week.
Dee said the Rescue Mission has an offer on a building in Escondido that would become a 50- to 100-bed facility. He said Encinitas’ beds would move there once it opens, and called the National City arrangement “a short-term fix.”
Dee said he was disappointed by Rodriguez’s response.
“I’m disappointed in Jose,” he said. “He voted to give us the (conditional use permit) and we have served without any cost to the city and nobody benefits more from the South County Lighthouse than the city of National City.”
Dee said he emailed an impact report to Rodriguez, Councilmember Marcus Bush and Morrison. He said Rodriguez replied that he appreciated it, but remained concerned about Encinitas.
“If you have a problem or you have a question, you call us and we’ll get you an answer,” he said of Rodriguez’s statements.
Dee said all 18 mayors in the county have signed a declaration to work more regionally on homelessness. He said the Encinitas arrangement is one outcome of that approach.
“We’re not too concerned as an organization about where the people come from,” he said. “We’re just concerned about getting them off the streets. Until we start thinking regionally about this issue, all we’re really doing is just moving people around.”