SDUSD families grateful for hotel vouchers from previous flooding amid inclement weather

Editor’s note: The story was updated to correct the name of the voucher program, Project Rest.

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — About 200 families from San Diego Unified and other school districts whose homes were devastated on Jan. 22 during the historic rain and flooding in parts of southeast San Diego are now staying at motels scattered throughout area.

“When the storm hit, I feel fortunate that we already had this program in place, because all of a sudden our referrals went up to 30 to 35 a day with families having been displaced due to the flooding.” Susie Terry is the coordinator for homeless education services, run out of the San Diego County Office of Education.

Rain begins in San Diego as second atmospheric river hits SoCal

The funding for hotel vouchers program, called Project Rest, was already in place due to the American Rescue Plan (ARP).

This funding, earmarked to help youth homelessness in schools, allows for a very short stay in hotels. Initially they were offering just five days, but soon learned that would not be enough. With more rain on the way they made adjustments.

San Diego water rescue teams prepare for potential flooding

“With the fragile and just stressed state of so many families who spent time not knowing where they were going to go tomorrow night, or tonight. That’s part of the reason why we sort of made it a policy that we just leave them alone once we get them in there — we don’t want to overload them. So it became our policy to wait one to two days before contacting families and then starting to talk to them about resources,” Terry said.

By California State law, all school campuses must have a Homeless Liaison to help address students dealing with homelessness. It’s that office that begins the process to gain access to Project Safe.

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