Roberts
is the chief executive officer of PATH and PATH Ventures, and a board member of the San Diego Regional Task Force on the Homeless and 211 San Diego. He lives in Downtown San Diego.
Although homelessness sometimes seems like an unsolvable problem, right now there is strong political alignment across the region to do everything we can to get people off the streets and into homes. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria recently announced new approaches to addressing encampments and the county of San Diego just created a new Department of Homeless Solutions and Equitable Communities.
Housing First has long been the model that elected officials and service providers have embraced because it prioritizes placing someone into a permanent home and then focuses on stabilization by providing much needed services.