LAKESIDE - Residents in one East County town are concerned about a potential homeless shelter being built in their community.
About 300 people gathered at the Lakeside Rodeo grounds Thursday night to discuss a plan to build 60 sleeping cabins on a lot near a storage facility.
“I want to make sure that there’s a path to help these people off the street and it’s compassionate,” County Supervisor Joel Anderson told NBC 7. “But on the same token, for those who choose to squat on other people’s property, that’s not right either and we’re gonna enforce those laws.”
Clients would be referred and dropped off by county outreach staff. Twenty-four-hour, on-site security would also be provided. Some residents say the site is too close to a school and some asked why it had to be built in their town, but others said something needs to be done.
“The way I look at, if you have a hundred homeless people and you talk to 100, and 10 accept help, you’re making progress,” Lakeside resident Richard Abraham said. “But right now, doing nothing means they stay in the river bottoms and they’re just everywhere.”
If approved, the County would lease the property from the Lakeside Water District for at least two to five years.
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