East County Transitional Living Center, a nonprofit organization providing emergency housing and job training to combat homelessness in El Cajon, hosted a Homeless Court community pop-up resources fair on Feb. 28 at the center’s headquarters. These pop-up resource fairs rotate throughout San Diego County to offer information and guidance to help attendees’ clear legal barriers and receive services. These free events let attendees clear warrants through the San Diego Homeless Court program, enroll in public assistance benefits and housing negotiation through the San Diego County Office of Homeless Solutions and Equitable Communities, print official San Diego birth documents through the San Diego County Recorder/Assessor’s Office and receive additional critical need services.
ECTLC Executive Director Dr. Julie Hayden said the event was a great success.
“We participated with the county and many other agencies joined together to put this event on,” she said. “They have them throughout San Diego. They were supposed to hold it at the El Cajon Courthouse, but they had problem with program, so we offered to host it. And we are going to do another one in July.”
Hayden said the event brought people from county-funded and private organizations that help homeless individuals access to resources typically difficult for them to receive.
“They can get their ID, their birth certificate, apply for MediCal if they do not already have insurance. They can go to Homeless Court. That is one of the biggest values of this. Homeless Court is where the DA’s present and a public defender can erase their fees if they do well in a program. Our participants are in a one-year program, so if they have at least six months of doing well, they can get their misdemeanor expunged or wipe their fees. So, this helps them to get all the resources they need to be successful,” she said.
Hayden said these resources were available to ECTLC participants, and open to the public for local homeless individuals to receive these services.
“Maybe they are not getting all the resources they need, but they can chip away at it,” she said.
Hayden said these popups speed up the process and provide many resources all in one spot. She said many services available are at these popups, providing services such as housing vouchers to get into hotels in an emergency, some offering first and last month’s rent.
“There is a application process and they will help them get through it. It will go a lot quicker if they come to one of these popup events,” she said.
Hayden said she estimates that around 100 people attended this event with many participants walking in for services from the local area, along with some of ECLTC clients.
“You saw people with their animals, and we hit every angle of what affects homelessness. Feeding San Diego provided a food truck, so those who came through got to go get some tacos. We have a trailer with showers so people can take a shower, get a meal, fresh clothes, so it helps them with immediate needs and some of the longer-term needs,” she said.
Hayden said the event had a mobile unit for medical care and doing exams.
“We have 145 beds at ECTLC, so we have a very large facility. One of the best things that I see that people can do in the com-munity is to have a network. You cannot fix everybody’s problems, but if you know someone who knows somebody, I love these events. When the regular public comes, they learn what resources are out there. I use the phrase, ‘Use our network to build your network.’ I think that is smart. It is a tangible thing that San Diegans can do to help,” she said.
