PATH — Local services in San Diego

A sad story: There is a big difference between a "homeless street person" and one who becomes "homeless because of an immediate disaster"and looses everything that they treasure : I barely got my mother out of her house alive and I listened to my cat of(20yrs.) cry until his voice stopped.In the end, a firefighter brought him out to me and laid him down across my out stretched arms; I just broke down into tears. A fire had destroyed my home. Have you ever stopped to think about the victims of the last five hurricanes that struck our gulf coast states & Mexico, as well as our southern to eastern seaboard states? Then all the fires that burned down thousands of homes up north? In just a few days, much of what people teasured was turned into a pile of toothpicks by the winds, innundated with flood waters or reduced to complete ash by the fires.Within a few days, you are left with NOTHING ; but maybe a pile of debt? Thus, there are two types of homeless people; "homeless street people" and the "victims of an unpredictable disaster." I was a"disaster victim" and not a "homeless street person" ; for many of the latter, such is a "culture" and I can prove it anyday! I've seen it from the inside out, so I can speak fairly. I don't remember how -exactly - I wound up at PATH (I think that I had some help from someone at the Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center and someone at St.Paul's in order to help get a roof over my head.). In the end, I was never talked to about a prescription that they misinterpreted, that I needed to be moved from my cubicle , as I was tired of being bullied. The stringent rules and regs. reminded me of a reform school like you see in a Hollywood production: These interim residents needed to be taught how to act in the "real world."I was TOLD by a staff member that most were "con men"; that most couldn't be trusted and needed to prove themselves. I was lucky to have a roof over my head however, I always had an uneasy feeling while I was there, but I received little counseling. The language used by many of the interim men's residents, as well as a couple of the staff was despicable "cursive gutter talk." There was also ample theft ( One interm resident, who had been there seven months,told me a number of true stories about "stolen goods."). One of my android phones had the camera lens broken and another was stolen when I wasn't in my room ;a number of my medications were stolen too. I lost other items too. The staff warned me! Some of the men's hygiene problems were terrible; eventhough there were huge private showers,many rarely used them and then left them dirty after use : The sanation engineer told me that "he was so tired of fixing manhandled equipment that , if the problem continued he was going to leave things as was!" The laundry room equipment was oft broken too, due to carelessness. There was a "crystal meth ring" in the building as two residents told me the story. Also : Two OD's when I was there and one arrest too. There were some good classes offered to help these people get back on the right path to a better life however, many had the habit of arriving 30 or more minutes late; the staff finally cracked down - "get there on time,or no more than 10 minutes late, or NO credit!" Everyone there was supposed to get an apartment however, some people got better places than others ; those with higher V-SPDAT scores got some really nice places... I was offered very little help, even when I repeatedly asked, and one day I was handed an "alumni card" and basically told to leave. I guess the "truth" always hurts? I always felt uneasy around my cubicle room mates; disrespect was common.Many of the men there - the majority were about 20 to 45 years old - were "homeless veterans" who were irresponsible "con-men," out to take whatever they could from our society ; they also filed constant grievances, in an an attempt to make the dedicated staff members look bad;PATH was short...

It looks like I'm not the only one who has had their expectations and opinions of the organization as a whole completely shattered by this particular office and it's staff.

I was referred to PATH back in December via Cal-AIM and my case worker has no-call/no-showed on me several times. She also flat out lied to me about everything from how the Clarity system works to where we were in the application process. In a three-tiered system with a score of 8 in the VI-SPDAT, an individual will qualify for rapid rehousing. NOT permanent supportive housing. Nevertheless my caseworker Alicia told me that I was on the list for permanent supportive housing. Impossible. She also told me there is no need to check in to the clarity system, however as I had been in permanent supportive housing (through PATH in another county) in the past I know this to be false. You must check into the Clarity system regularly to keep your place in the queue.

That was my experience then, and how it works hasn't changed. When I took the VI-SPDAT in September my case worker with Family Health Centers urged me to check in on a regular basis. I haven't been checking in because I was working with PATH (or thought I was) and they told me there's no need to check in. That's wrong, both factually and ethically.

You can't even get a call back from these people. I had requested a new caseworker be assigned after requesting a change in housing navigators. I was contacted by a supervisor by the name of Jessica Fox, and she convinced me to stay because they would help me out. All I needed to do if I didn't yet have two months of pay stubs was negotiate a lease on my own. Try staying gainfully employed for two months when you're homeless. Sober.

Jessica Fox retaliated against me by "exiting" me from PATH for saying that path sucks and that they have done absolutely nothing to help me. I pointed out that Cal-AIM pays for everything, not PATH.

3 months of lies, neglect, and the most phony intonation I have ever heard from anyone is all my caseworker had to offer. And I mean PHONY to the point of feeling very awkward and uncomfortable when we met. And not her regular demeanor which I had observed before it became clear she didn't know what she was doing.

For a whole month, we met to work on a HSP. In her defense there was an entire week of non-communication after she know called no showed on me the first time. I'm always reachable by phone and not so much as a courtesy call or text message to say hey, can we reschedule. I'm still not sure if the housing stability plan was ever completed?

I told them that if I was a junkie committing crimes and not working or contributing to society in any way I would get housed right away. That may sound like an exaggeration but it is 100% true. Just look at their SRO or any of the PSH shanties scattered abou the city that PATH is responsible for filling.

I have filed a grievance with Blue Shield and I have expressed my concerns with SD-AIM prior to this incident in a conference call that lasted about 40 minutes. I will update them on what happened this week and I encourage anyone who has had experiences like this to call their insurance and file grievances, including any and all information so that corrective action can be taken. Whether fraud or defalcation is the cause is unknown to me however I do know that in the industrial welfare complex there are a lot of fraudsters who skim money off the system. The more ignorant the people are whom they house, the less likely the public is to find out that something is horribly wrong.

Someone wrapped up in drug addiction who gets most of the funds intended for their move in costs, who finally has a place to get high is far less likely to notice something's not right. Sometimes tenants are misled into seeking deposit assistance from charitable organizations when the deposit has already been received. It's called...

Well , after a referral from 211SD I contacted PATH without knowing much about their services or exactly what they do for homeless individuals. Although the girl I spoke with at 211 said that they were “great” and “will definitely be the best for my situation.” So I excitedly contacted them at the number I was given. And it all goes completely down hill from here. I truly do appreciate what they do and I don’t doubt that they do actually help individuals and families find housing. I just have never seen anything close to it. I could go through numerous times that my time has been completely wasted or how I have been told complete untruths. It’s been very frustrating and time consuming to say the least. It’s been right around 1 year now since I first contacted PATH and here I am still without any type of housing. They have told me things all the way from the beginning , like your numbers are on the level and it won’t take too long, to as far as telling me on two separate occasions to go find an apartment and that I will have some form of financial assistance from them. Only to be told that there is nothing for me when I called from the rental office of an available apt. bldg. . Literally , they told me to go find an apt. and then with the rental people right there when I called my worker she said there is no subsidy I believe is the correct terminology. Twice! How humiliating, as if it isn’t enough already. I do work, unfortunately it isn’t a full time position and I do have a health issue that makes it difficult to work on a full time basis. But I have told them all along that I want to contribute and will contribute , that I just need a little help to get the ball rolling and get off of the street. I truly feel that once I can get in a place then all of these other expenses and headaches and stresses will become less and less. And it will all become much easier and things like all of my belongings getting stolen or people trying to rob me or being harassed by the police when I do nothing wrong except be on the street because I simply have no alternative. I’ve said to them since day one , please tell me if I should seek help elsewhere or if this isn’t going to work out for me and I will go to plan b. Which that’s a whole different topic . In any event , I realize that these people are overwhelmed and that is why I have been very patient and never have I been unpleasant to any of these workers . Not that you can get a hold of them or that they will respond. My first worker, , he did mention that he may be seeking employment elsewhere , but he just split and quit answering. No forwarding number or worker . Nothing. This was two months into it. He actually told me to go see if I can find a studio and that they would help with deposit and first months rent and I went and found one and I simply couldn’t get a hold of him ever again. Then it took all kinds of tricks to get a new worker , I had to go through a lady from PATH in LA. She gave me a number and two or three weeks later I was finally back to the beginning again as a lady said that she found all of my info in the system and that we needed to meet and we’ll get things rolling again. Well I would have been better off if she would have just ignored me. Because that’s what she does now, ignores me because she knows that she has not been up front with me and has not been professional in most ways. I understand if I am not going to get any help from your program, but just tell me that. Finally I sent her a message a couple of days ago , explaining that I I am having a fairly minor surgery and if there is anything that may be available or if she has heard anything or if she has any advice for me , and she hasn’t even responded at all. I just don’t get it. I’ve been nothing but patient and pleasant to everyone there and that’s a tough task when your on the streets this long and...