Opinion: Single-room housing a smart, inexpensive way to address shelter shortage, homelessness

Re "I went from a Ph.D. program to being homeless — and I’m not an addict or mentally ill" ( April 17 ): Ten thousand San Diego residents lived in single rooms which were affordable on very low incomes. These rooms were considered substandard and unsafe, so the city of San Diego tore them down. Does anyone believe sleeping on a sidewalk is safer? San Jose’s approach to homelessness appears to be similar to the 10,000 rooms torn down. The April 17 opinion piece described it as interim housing, providing a private bedroom for roughly the same cost as a cot in a dormitory setting — about $50,000.

Before spending $1.1 billion on a 1,000-bed shelter, let’s evaluate this interim housing approach.

— Pat Delaney, University City

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune .