SAN DIEGO -- A storage building that holds the 'lives' of hundreds of San Diego's homeless is in jeopardy of shutting down.
"You cannot go apply for a job and work a job if you're carrying everything you own on your back," said Gerry Limpic, who runs The Water Man Check-In Center near 9th Avenue and Broadway.
The facility opened in January in the wake of a lawsuit settlement between the ACLU and the City of San Diego. That suit stemmed from a 2009 incident where police officers illegally destroyed the belongings of several homeless people.
City attorneys agreed to pay a $150,000 settlement, with most of the money going towards a homeless storage building. The money will run out January 30.
"If it comes down to that (closing), these bins will be taken outside and whatever's in them will be dumped on the sidewalk," Limpic said.
Inside the building are 250 city trash cans and around 100 smaller plastic bins, all holding clothes, papers, medications and other items from the homeless.
The city actually paid for 500 cans, but the building provided rent-free by the Centre City Development Corporation is too small. The extra trash cans are in storage.
Staff with the Isaiah Project are hoping for City Council support.
Councilman Kevin Faulconer said his colleagues want the project, which he called successful, to keep going. The issue goes before the council next week.
Downtown San Diego Partnership provides news, resources, and database of businesses aimed specifically at residents living downtown. The organization is working to find private funding. It would take $100,000 to keep the program going one more year.
