San Diego Housing Commission to unveil plan to help homeless veterans

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – Many in the county will greet colder temperatures with relief, but not those who will have to sleep on the street.

On Wednesday, the San Diego Housing Commission will unveil a plan to provide more San Diegans with a roof over their heads, and that will include San Diego’s homeless vets.

On Veterans Day, there was no time to watch a holiday parade for members of the Alpha Project.

The advocates for the homeless were at work, along the San Diego Bayfront.

Ryan Creamer, the son of a marine is part of the team, and he was looking for the sort of people others usually ignore, the homeless.

It is Ryan’s job to determine who needs the most help to find shelter and other services. Many of the people he sees are veterans.

This week, the San Diego Housing Commission will announce a three year plan toward the goal of ending homelessness.

Part of the plan involves turning properties like a vacant hotel in downtown San Diego, into permanent housing. A new home for 75 homeless military veterans.

Any effort to create permanent housing is hailed by homeless advocate Bob McElroy.

His Alpha Project sends out the outreach teams, and runs the winter shelter in East Village that is home to 200 people when the streets get too cold.

Of those people staying in the tent is 58-year-old Dorothea Suntag, an Air Force Vet. She lost her leg nearly five years ago, and her husband is also disabled.

When the tent closes in the Spring, Dorothea and her dog Contessa will be looking for someplace else to stay.