The Oceanside City Council approved a new program aimed at getting more help to people living on the streets through a coordinated civilian-led approach.

The Homeless Evaluation, Assistance & Response Team, known as HEART, is a multidisciplinary outreach model focused on connecting unsheltered individuals to housing, supportive services, behavioral health resources, and stabilization support through a street outreach approach.

HEART was developed in response to direction the Oceanside City Council gave during a 2025 Homelessness Workshop, when it called for an approach focused on social services rather than law enforcement for non-criminal concerns.

Approved at the May 20, 2026 City Council meeting, the team will use social workers and case workers specializing in outreach support. The HEART team will be led by a newly-created City Homeless Outreach Coordinator role that will oversee contracted outreach staff including social workers, behavioral health professionals, and people with lived experience of homelessness. The team will be developed and supervised by the City’s Homeless Services Manager.

Day-to-day work will include proactive direct engagement in high-impact areas, connecting people to behavioral and medical services, helping with ID documents and benefits enrollment, and facilitating access to shelter, safe parking, employment, and housing resources. The HEART team will monitor progress and report outcomes regularly.

The team will be funded by Measure X revenue, with $400,000 included in the proposed FY 2026/27 budget scheduled to be adopted in June.

• The City's Navigation Center provides 24-hour shelter, which will expand from 50 to 75 beds in July 2026.
• The City’s Safe Parking Program offers a secure overnight option with resources for people living in their vehicles.
• The City also continues to work with state Encampment Resolution Grant funding to address camps along Buena Vista Creek, a joint effort with the City of Carlsbad.
• Additionally, Oceanside continues to support the construction of affordable housing, and recently broke ground on another project, Coast Villas, bringing 56 homes for low-income adults (15 of these apartments will be reserved for veterans experiencing homelessness). Along with partners, Oceanside invested $4.25 million in the project through Inclusionary Housing and federal HOME-ARP funds and is contributing 15 HUD-VASH Vouchers, a federal program pairing rental assistance with VA case management, and 40 Project-Based Vouchers to make rents more affordable for residents.