La Mesa Seasonal Shelter Program to Close
Majority of Clients Were First-time Homeless

   SAN DIEGO — The La Mesa Seasonal Shelter for families, located at 8379 Center Drive, will close on Wednesday, April 3, at 7 a.m.

   The shelter opened its doors on December 23, 2001, and provided a respite from San Diego’s cold winter weather for 75 families, including 146 children. Only 16 of those families remain and are faced with the difficult task of finding other accommodations by the day of closing.

   "We’ve been very successful in placing our seasonal shelter families in more stable living environments," says Tony Sterzinger, manager of the program. "The agencies in the area with whom we’ve worked to place our clients have done a phenomenal job." Those agencies – Crisis House, Little House, Home Stay and the County of San Diego – found housing for 21 families, many of them going to the YWCA.

   Sterzinger says 38 families found housing on their own, either saving enough to rent or moving in with family or friends.

   A disturbing statistic shelter officials noticed this year was the large number of first-time homeless families seeking assistance from the seasonal shelter program.

   "Probably 66 percent of the families we assisted had never been homeless before," Sterzinger says, pointing to the rising cost of rent and a tight housing market throughout San Diego County as a likely cause. "About 40 percent of the families who stayed with us had at least one employed parent, in some cases, both parents worked. The bottom line is the cost of living in San Diego has become unmanageable for the working poor."

   For more information on the closing of the La Mesa Seasonal Shelter, call (619) 525-1608.

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