{"id":130203,"date":"2026-01-12T13:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T13:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/130203\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T13:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T13:38:07","slug":"el-cajon-leaders-to-deliberate-program-for-storing-homeless-belongings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/130203\/","title":{"rendered":"El Cajon leaders to deliberate program for storing homeless belongings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>El Cajon\u2019s top administrator said the city should not implement a proposed program to store homeless individuals\u2019 personal belongings after encampments are cleared.<\/p>\n<p>The city typically conducts encampment clearings and cleanups twice a week. Individuals at the encampments are told to relocate, and items that are left behind are collected and disposed of by the city.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the city\u2019s homeless encampment team removed around 250 tons of abandoned items, according to a recent report.<\/p>\n<p>During the city\u2019s annual update on homelessness programs over the summer, city leaders asked staff to research the feasibility of a storage program for items that are collected when encampments are cleared.<\/p>\n<p>City Manager Graham Mitchell said the drawbacks of such a program outweigh the benefits.<\/p>\n<p>Providing storage opportunities for homeless individuals after clearings can be helpful to those pursuing treatment or housing options, a staff report said.<\/p>\n<p>Similar programs have been implemented in the city of San Diego and Lemon Grove. Individuals oftentimes use the facilities to safely keep their important documents or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/2025\/09\/28\/homeless-peoples-belongings-are-rarely-stored-after-encampment-sweeps-records-show\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">most treasured possessions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, staff noted a large cost associated with implementing and staffing a storage program. Assuming a basic setup, the city estimated initial costs to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elcajon.gov\/home\/showpublisheddocument\/29673\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reach up to $1.75 million<\/a>, with maintenance costs being more significant \u2014 primarily due to staffing and storage management.<\/p>\n<p>The report said such a program would require hiring an additional employee at an annual cost of up to $120,000.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImplementation would also slow current encampment cleanup operations,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n<p>Staff cited low rates of property retrieval at existing facilities in the county.<\/p>\n<p>In Lemon Grove, items gathered from encampment clearings are placed in 65-gallon containers stored on pallets. Individuals call a phone number listed on an inventory sheet and items are brought to City Hall for retrieval. According to the report, \u201cfew individuals\u201d have returned for their items.<\/p>\n<p>A similar program exists in the city of San Diego. Individuals call the phone number listed on the encampment notice and staff bring the stored items to them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe City reports that items are rarely impounded because advance notice typically results in individuals removing their belongings, leaving only trash behind,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n<p>Further, city staff said a storage facility could increase the risk of theft or vandalism.<\/p>\n<p>The issue of what to do with the personal property of those living in encampments is the subject of several lawsuits, including a class-action lawsuit filed in 2024 alleging that officers and government workers from around the region are repeatedly, and illegally, throwing out homeless residents\u2019 personal property in East County.<\/p>\n<p>City leaders will discuss staff\u2019s recommendations during the regular council meeting on Jan. 13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"El Cajon\u2019s top administrator said the city should not implement a proposed program to store homeless individuals\u2019 personal&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,3053,6568,181,23,100,74,84,76,75,1696],"class_list":{"0":"post-130203","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-east-county","10":"tag-el-cajon","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-san-diego","15":"tag-san-diego-county","16":"tag-san-diego-headlines","17":"tag-san-diego-news","18":"tag-top-stories-sdut"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}