Homeless Pitch Tent City in Balboa Park : Shelter: Activists say they are tired of the city’s inaction and challenge officials to come up with a better solution.

Fed up with the city’s reluctance to establish a permanent “tent city” for the homeless in San Diego, a homeless advocate set up two dozen dome tents Tuesday in a Balboa Park parking lot and challenged city officials to figure out a better alternative.

The 23 donated tents popped up after homeless spokesman Larry Milligan and other activists became frustrated waiting for the city to help in finding a safe haven for people with no place to live, Milligan said.

“The city keeps saying they’re going to do something to find shelter for us,” he said. “But all they do is talk and exclude us from decisions they make.

“We could wait forever while the politicians discuss the problem and try to find solutions,” he said. “ . . . You find ways to help yourself. That’s what America is all about.”

Milligan said 70 people were selected by lottery to sleep in the tents and that they will provide their own security in the lower parking lot in front of the old Navy Hospital. In recent years, the parking lot has served as a popular overnight area for the homeless.

More tents, enough to house 100 people, are due to arrive later this week, Milligan said. He would not identify the donors of any of the tents.

Worried city officials do not like the idea of a tent city in the park.

“One of the problems is that a tent city is not allowed under the municipal code,” said Maureen Stapleton, an assistant city manager. “This is not a legal use of park property. And it really doesn’t meet our concerns about safety and health. It’s not an answer.”

Earlier this month, the City Council created a task force on homelessness, but refused a request by Councilman John Hartley to declare a crisis in the city that would have eased restrictions on homeless shelters and called greater attention to the problem.

The task force is focusing on long-term solutions to the homeless issue for the coming winter, Stapleton said, including proposals for a centralized shelter program or various locations in each of the eight council districts.

The city manager’s office, she said, is trying to figure out in the next few days what might substitute for the Balboa Park tent city. So far, Stapleton said, nobody has come up with a good solution.

Although many churches provide emergency housing, Hartley wanted 24-hour, permanent shelters created. But such an ambitious proposal would be expensive. At a cost of $5 per bed for an estimated 7,000 homeless people to have cots or floor mats, the city would have to spend almost $13 million a year. The cost could more than double if food, showers and staff were added, the city manager said.

The task force, which is studying more long-term solutions, is expected to report to the City Council on Sept. 21.

One task force member, Leslie Wade, said she supports a tent city in Balboa Park.

“In terms of calling attention to their plight, it’s a good idea,” said Wade, who represents a group of homeowners and business owners in Center City East who oppose a shelter in their neighborhood. “Because homelessness is so easily out of the public’s view, it has led to a level of complacency citywide.”

San Diego Police Cmdr. Keith Enerson, who was asked to look into the situation at Balboa Park, said he drove past the parking lot Tuesday evening before meeting with city officials.

“We are going to look at shelter alternatives for the homeless,” he said. “The city is not turning a deaf ear to these people.”

Police are not under orders to sweep the area, Enerson said, until something can be done about the homeless in Balboa Park.

But the mayor’s office said Tuesday that the homeless will eventually need to be moved out.

“We need to find them another place,” said Paul Downey, the mayor’s press secretary. “We can’t accept having a tent city in Balboa Park, but we’re compassionate enough to find places for these people to sleep.”

On Tuesday evening, two women from a local church pulled up in a small pickup truck to distribute 100 bag lunches. The site is a regular feeding area for the homeless. About 135 people quickly lined up next to the truck, without direction or orders.

The 100 lunches were distributed without incident. When the women announced that all lunches had been distributed, those who did not get a lunch returned to their sleeping area.

“People come here to sleep because it’s safer than sleeping in the streets or doorways downtown,” said a homeless man named Dennis. “The scene is organized up here, and troublemakers are quickly ejected.”

Dennis, who has been homeless for almost two years, was chosen to sleep in a tent Tuesday night. However, he and another man gave up the tent to a married homeless couple who were not picked in the lottery.

“We’re all passengers on the Titanic ship carrying the homeless. The ship hasn’t sunk under us yet,” Dennis said. “But it’s listing heavily.”