Coalition demands county spend more homeless, hep A fight
If the county could afford $150 million to help build a new stadium for the Chargers, some politicians say it should be able to spend that same amount on the homeless and public health.

Former State Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher speaks during the opening ceremonies for the San Diego Memorial Stair Climb in November, 2016.

If the county could afford $150 million to help build a new stadium for the Chargers, some politicians say it should be able to spend that same amount on the homeless and public health.

A coalition of local, state and union officials made that argument as they gathered in front of the County Administration Center Thursday to announce what they called an “emergency action plan” that demands funding increases in several areas from staffing to public housing.

A county supervisor immediately accused the group of playing politics with the ongoing hepatitis A outbreak crisis.

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Led by former Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, the group threw down the rhetorical gauntlet again and again, accusing current leadership of being more concerned about bank balances than delivering services.

Fletcher, who is running for county supervisor next year, said the county should have stood taller when the region’s hepatitis A outbreak began spreading rapidly.

“It is not a time for the chief public health organization in our region to say ‘it is not our responsibility,’ it’s a time for action,” Fletcher said.

County supervisors were quick to respond with statements of their own.

Board chair Dianne Jacob fired off a one-page missive and posted it on Twitter while the news conference was still underway that accused “City Hall and others” of “trying to score political points off this public health emergency.”

“This is nothing more than an attempt to shift the responsibility to the county for a homeless problem that has festered in the city for years,” Jacobs’ statement said.

Supervisor Ron Roberts added that his proposal for a $150 million bridge loan to help the now-departed Chargers build a new stadium was part of a larger proposal that called for a $200 million contribution from the city of San Diego. Neither funding proposal was ever approved by the county board of the city council.

“Perhaps the city should spend its own $200 million slated for the Chargers stadium before they or a perennial political candidate start asking others to do their job for them,” Roberts’ statement said, making an oblique reference to Fletcher’s bids for San Diego mayor in 2012 and 2013.

Others in the group made the case that the county, with $747 million in “unassigned” cash in its general fund, according to its most recent audit, could afford to do more.

In August, state Sen. Ben Hueso convinced the legislature’s Joint Committee on Legislative Audit to examine the county’s staffing of public health nurses. He alleges that understaffing has created a workload that is much too high across the region.

“We believe that this outbreak has something to do with the county’s refusal to hire adequate staff,” Hueso, D-San Diego, said at the news conference.

But Jacob bristled at the notion that the county has been handling the outbreak on the cheap.

“The county has spent about $3 million to date fighting Hep A with nurses, wash stations, hygiene kits, and vaccinations for nearly 70,000 people. And it plans to spend $1.5 million a month going forward,” Jacobs’ statement said.

She said the county already spends $300 million per year on services for homeless residents “including alcohol and substance abuse treatment and mental health services.”

Fletcher is running to replace Roberts who will be termed out of office in 2018. Fletcher faces, among others, former San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis in the race. In a statement issued after the news conference, Dumanis said “this is not the time for finger pointing.”

“I will call for an after-action investigation into the local government response so that we can identify breakdowns. As Supervisor, I am committed to taking the findings of this review and developing a regional response plan for any future public health crisis,” Dumanis said.

Most if not all of those at the news conference urging the county to do more are Democrats. All five supervisors are Republicans, as is Dumanis.

Several speakers during Thursday’s news conference made reference to the county’s funding of mental health services, which are seen as key to serving a homeless population that includes many with significant psychiatric needs.

Hueso said his research indicates that the county has more than $100 million in unspent state Mental Health Services Act funds which could be used to significantly increase the number of beds available and to hire additional case workers to work with the homeless. These proposals are included in the plan that the coalition released.

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t pay taxes for the county just to store that money away,” Hueso said. “I pay taxes so that the county will provide these essential services.”

That very topic was addressed just two days earlier with the board of supervisors passed a $197.5 million three-year mental health plan that would add 10 new psychiatric emergency response teams, additional funding for housing for people with mental illnesses, expansion of the Children’s Emergency Screen Unit and increased case management for older adults with serious mental illnesses.

County officials told the board that the expansion adds $15 million to previous spending levels, but Fletcher said he did not think the improvements go far enough.

“They’re talking about a three-year plan that will see a $5 million increase each year for three years. They’re (nominally) changing what the status quo was already going to do. If that was working, we wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in today,” Fletcher said.

County spokesman Craig Sturak said in an email sent Thursday evening that the county’s mental health services unspent balance is $123. 7 million with another $42 million set aside as a reserve. He said the new mental health plan approved by the supervisors, plus other expenses, should make a significant dent in that pile of cash.

“By the end of this current fiscal year, it is anticipated that our unspent balance will be reduced by approximately 40 percent from fiscal year 2014-2015 levels,” Sturak wrote.

San Diego City Council members Barbara Bry and Chris Ward, who also added their names to the list of officials who endorsed the Chargers approach, have asked the county to commit to case management, nursing and other services at the city’s new transitional camping area and at the three temporary big-tent shelters that will be set up for the homeless this winter.

Sturak said the county already had social workers and public health nurses visit the new campsite for vaccination and to enroll residents in safety-net programs. He said the county plans to continue those services, and offer others such as psychiatric emergency response teams and behavioral health outreach workers, at the three additional tent shelters when they open.

“The goal is to connect individuals at these locations to services to help them get health care, assistance and housing,” Sturak said.

Meanwhile, the region’s hepatitis A outbreak continues to grow with a total of 18 deaths and 490 cases announced earlier this week. The next update is due Tuesday.

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paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1850

Twitter: @paulsisson