A service center for homeless individuals has changed both its name and location in downtown San Diego, a shift that officials hope will boost response times for the hundreds of residents asking for aid each month.<\/p>\n
The Homelessness Response Center, re-branded as \u201cThe Hub,\u201d now sits on the fifth floor of the Central Library. Walk-ins are welcome from 1 to 3 p.m. every day but Sunday.<\/p>\n
Staff members believe the office\u2019s main strength is its ability to connect homeless people who call 211, a general help line, with services out in the field. If all goes well, few individuals will have to visit the library.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re able to help more people,\u201d said Jocelyn Johnson-Wilson, a leader at the Downtown San Diego Partnership. \u201cWe are excited about this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fact that the Downtown Partnership is in charge is another change.<\/p>\n
Until last month, the Homelessness Response Center was managed by the nonprofit People Assisting The Homeless, or PATH, in a first-floor office on the corner of 14th Street and Imperial Avenue.<\/p>\n
The entrance was easily visible to passersby, partly because dozens of homeless individuals often hung out outside. A crowd was still there Tuesday afternoon, and while there was no obvious signage announcing a swap in locations, the message appears to have gotten out. \u201cThey said to call 211,\u201d a woman said when a reporter approached the locked door.<\/p>\n
Leaders scrapped that site for several reasons. The land is scheduled to become an affordable housing project. And budget deficits are causing officials to rethink homelessness spending.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s contract with PATH was worth more than $763,600 in the last fiscal year, which paid for nine full-time positions, according to a housing commission spokesperson. In contrast, the Downtown Partnership\u2019s deal costs a little less than $500,000.<\/p>\n
That money only covers five employees, but the partnership has other sources of funding that, altogether, will allow the office to be staffed by around 15 individuals.<\/p>\n
Their main job is responding to requests for aid made through 211.<\/p>\n
Under the old system, homeless people often had to show up in-person to sign up for services, officials said. Now, the contents of a 211 call can be passed along to The Hub, which then may dispatch an outreach team to wherever the caller is. Leaders aim for in-person meetings within two days.<\/p>\n
Those needing services can also email thehub@improvedtsd.org or schedule appointments online through https:\/\/calendly.com\/dsdphub.<\/p>\n
The Hub occupies a quiet room near the library\u2019s biography section. The space was free in every sense of the word. A job training organization had long ago moved out and the Downtown Partnership won\u2019t pay rent.<\/p>\n
On a recent weekday, women in blue-collared shirts sat typing in cubicles. Many used to be outreach workers, making them familiar with the region\u2019s dense bureaucracy. Near one desk were several black folders labeled \u201cID vouchers,\u201d \u201cbus pass receipt forms\u201d and \u201caffordable housing list.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my dream job,\u201d said Maria Levin, a coordinator with the partnership\u2019s family reunification program. Levin added that she especially loved connecting kids on the street with relatives able to take them in. \u201cWe\u2019re the bridge between them and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hub\u2019s first day in the library was July 16. Libraries are already gathering places for homeless residents \u2014 public air conditioning and clean bathrooms are scarce, and job searches generally require the Internet. Hub staffers said they\u2019re willing to help librarians serve that population.<\/p>\n
The partnership\u2019s budget includes $150,000 in diversion funding, which can go directly to homeless people to pay for one-time expenses like car repairs.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: August 7, 2025 at 7:08 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A service center for homeless individuals has changed both its name and location in downtown San Diego, a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":127944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,8315,728,50,3549,3550,7264,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-127943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-downtown-san-diego","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-san-diego","15":"tag-san-diego-county","16":"tag-sandiego","17":"tag-top-stories-sdut","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114990852583458608","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}