San Diego’s downtown library now hosts a homelessness services center

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.

The Homelessness Response Center, re-branded as “The Hub,” now sits on the fifth floor of the Central Library. Walk-ins are welcome from 1 to 3 p.m. every day but Sunday.

Staff members believe the office’s 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.

“We’re able to help more people,” said Jocelyn Johnson-Wilson, a leader at the Downtown San Diego Partnership. “We are excited about this.”

The fact that the Downtown Partnership is in charge is another change.

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.

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. “They said to call 211,” a woman said when a reporter approached the locked door.

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.

The city’s 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’s deal costs a little less than $500,000.

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.

Their main job is responding to requests for aid made through 211.

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.

Those needing services can also email thehub@improvedtsd.org or schedule appointments online through https://calendly.com/dsdphub.

The Hub occupies a quiet room near the library’s 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’t pay rent.

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’s dense bureaucracy. Near one desk were several black folders labeled “ID vouchers,” “bus pass receipt forms” and “affordable housing list.”

“This is my dream job,” said Maria Levin, a coordinator with the partnership’s family reunification program. Levin added that she especially loved connecting kids on the street with relatives able to take them in. “We’re the bridge between them and their families.”

The Hub’s first day in the library was July 16. Libraries are already gathering places for homeless residents — public air conditioning and clean bathrooms are scarce, and job searches generally require the Internet. Hub staffers said they’re willing to help librarians serve that population.

The partnership’s budget includes $150,000 in diversion funding, which can go directly to homeless people to pay for one-time expenses like car repairs.