Submitted by Rolf Yngve
While I applaud Mayor Bailey’s recent initiative to reduce homelessness in California as reported by Megan Kitt on 03/11/2023, he has only part of the reason why we have so few homeless in our city.
In past years, I worked with homeless and formerly homeless people at the Veteran’s Village in San Diego. I sometimes asked them why they didn’t go to Coronado—I was not encouraging people to come here, mind you. Rather, I was interested in finding out what conditions kept the homeless out.
The answer was pretty simple and much along the lines of what Mayor Bailey was talking about; Coronado has no support for the homeless. However, the overriding factor was not housing, but food. One man told me, “If you go hungry in San Diego, you are not trying. But there’s nothing to eat in Coronado.”
He was right. There are at least a half dozen outlets for free food in San Diego proper. None in Coronado.
Mayor Bailey has part of the answer why Coronado has so few homeless: relocation. But the issue is actually a bit simpler in our case: no food. This is a solution that would be difficult to apply throughout California.
Rolf Yngve
