![\"Rescue](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sut-l-SHELTERS-3.jpg\")
Rescue Mission\u2019s South County Lighthouse on Monday, June 10, 2024 in National City, California.(Ana Ramirez \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nA 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\u2019s mayor and the shelter\u2019s operator say the arrangement is temporary until a North County facility opens potentially next year in Escondido.<\/p>\n
The Encinitas City Council voted unanimously Sept. 16 to pursue exclusive use of up to 12 beds at the San Diego Rescue Mission\u2019s South County Lighthouse in National City. The vote ends the city\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Rescue Mission\u2019s South County Lighthouse on Monday, June 10, 2024 in National City, California.(Ana Ramirez \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
The Encinitas council is expected to vote on a contract amendment with the Rescue Mission on Oct. 14.<\/p>\n
Encinitas Mayor Bruce Ehlers said Thursday that Vista had made clear it wanted Encinitas\u2019 12 beds back. Continuing at Buena Creek on its own, he said, would have cost the city about double the Rescue Mission option.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always knew and Vista made it pretty clear that they didn\u2019t want us to continue,\u201d Ehlers said. \u201cIt simply came back to a better use of money.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019 responsibility onto a city with fewer resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cNational City is already fighting for scarce resources as we navigate our ongoing budget crisis,\u201d Rodriguez said in the statement. \u201cEncinitas has the second-highest household income in the county, National City\u2019s is the lowest.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement said National City will keep doing its part on homelessness, but cannot take on more of the region\u2019s responsibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cEncinitas 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy comment would be that we don\u2019t see this as a permanent solution,\u201d Ehlers said, adding that \u201cthe closer they are to Encinitas, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom day one, if any of us were paying attention, we knew that this was not going to be exclusive to National City,\u201d Morrison said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019ve got a problem with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dee said the arrangement grew out of the Rescue Mission\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is just a creative funding strategy that we have for 12 of our 162 beds,\u201d Dee said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019 beds would move there once it opens, and called the National City arrangement \u201ca short-term fix.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dee said he was disappointed by Rodriguez\u2019s response.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m disappointed in Jose,\u201d he said. \u201cHe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have a problem or you have a question, you call us and we\u2019ll get you an answer,\u201d he said of Rodriguez\u2019s statements.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not too concerned as an organization about where the people come from,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re just concerned about getting them off the streets. Until we start thinking regionally about this issue, all we\u2019re really doing is just moving people around.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A plan by Encinitas to reserve up to 12 beds at a National City homeless shelter has prompted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,4779,4601,181,12564,23,205,5119,100,3054,12565,13,74,84,76,75,3055,1696],"class_list":["post-492677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-california","tag-cardiff-by-the-sea","tag-encinitas","tag-latest-headlines","tag-leucadia","tag-local-news","tag-local-politics","tag-national-city","tag-news","tag-north-county","tag-olivenhain","tag-politics","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-south-county","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492677","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=492677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}