Encinitas hears suggestions for Homeless Action Plan update
By Gary Warth
May 5, 2026
ENCINITAS – Business representatives in Encinitas would like to see more homeless prevention, a better definition of housing and more after-hour services for people living on the street.
Those were among the suggestions made at the second Encinitas Homeless Action Plan workshop held at City Hall on May 5.
A previous workshop was held April 30 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church focused on people with lived experience in homelessness, medical professionals, and community service providers.
The workshops are held to collect community input about the updated five-year Homeless Action Plan for 2026-31.
While city staff members said they promoted the workshop to business leaders and even distributed 1,500 flyers, the turnout was small.
The workshop included 20 minutes of questions and answers followed by breakout sessions with small groups discussing what they would like to see in the action plan, which is expected to be presented for adoption to the City Council this winter.
The city has laws against encampments and sleeping in vehicles on public streets, and one man asked how enforcement is carried out.
Staff members replied that Sheriff’s deputies conduct “compassionate, focused outreach,” where they provide people with information on resources and support while also informing them of the city’s municipal code.
The city has contracted with the San Diego Rescue Mission to provide outreach, and one person asked staff members what happens when a person is found sleeping in a vehicle after hours when outreach workers are not on duty.
A staff member replied that a deputy will assess a person’s well-being, provide information on resources and may connect them with a service provider other than the Rescue Mission. Deputies also may contact a Rescue Mission outreach worker in the morning so they can contact the person.
Former Encinitas Mayor and Councilmember Sheila Cameron attended the meeting and asked why the Action Plan did not identify subpopulations of homeless people who have substance use and mental health issues. She was told those would be good suggestions to include in the Action Plan update.
Following break-out sessions, groups who had discussed the plan presented suggestions that will be presented to the City Council.
One group discussed having after-hours support for people living without shelter and more categories of homeless people to provide support for addictions and mental health issues.
Another group suggested the city expand its housing solutions, which they called vague and not specific enough. They also asked for more work to be done on prevention so people did not fall into homelessness.
The group also suggested the city fund a new safe parking program and shelter, and another group said there should be more focus on data collection.
Results of the January Point-in-Time count of homeless people countrywide were recently released and found 107 homeless people in Encinitas, with 64 living without shelter and 43 in shelters.
The unsheltered population included seven veterans, four transitional age youth and 26 seniors. The number of unsheltered people in the city decreased from 91 to 64 in the past year, a 30% drop. The number of people in shelters decreased from 44 to 43.
The city has its own data on homelessness in an online dashboard that includes monthly reports from the San Diego Rescue Mission’s outreach team.
The Rescue Mission reported they engaged with 65 people in March. They also reported 28 people in Encinitas entered homelessness that month and 14 were placed in services, but none were housed. A quarterly report from January to March found outreach workers engaged with 248 people, placed 62 people in services and housed two people.
Encinitas residents can give input to the Homeless Action Plan update through July 31 by emailing the city’s Homeless Program Coordinator Crystal Pugh at cpugh@encinitasca.gov.
