A cold snap over San Diego has prompted the San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) to open additional homeless shelter beds for 280 people in downtown San Diego on Wednesday and Thursday.
Father Joe's Villages will add 250 more beds and PATH San Diego will host 30 more people, the agency said. The agency adds more shelter beds when the temperature is 50 degrees or below and there is a 40 percent chance of rain, or in exceptional weather conditions.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a frost advisory for San Diego the past two nights due to a cold snap that brought winter weather to the region. Temperatures are expected to warm up over the rest of the week, but they're still expected to remain below average through at least the end of the month.
The number of people living without shelter in San Diego County has risen dramatically from 2016 to 2017, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). During that time period, there was a 5 percent increase in the number of people living in the streets or shelters in San Diego County, according to the January 2017 We All Count homeless count project.
For the city of San Diego, the increase was 10 percent, according to the report. One reason for the increase is the rise in rents. In San Diego, the average price for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,710 — a 6.9 percent jump over last year, according to Zumper.com, an apartment rental site.
A two-bedroom apartment in the city costs $2,250, an increase of 2.2 percent, according to Zumper.
In December, the city opened two other so-called "bridge shelters" — one geared toward helping homeless U.S. military veterans and the other for single, homeless adults. A third shelter was opened last month geared toward women and families.
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The San Diego City Council approved more than $6.5 million to fund the shelters, which are part of Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s plan to help get the city’s homeless population off the streets amid the ongoing Hepatitis A outbreak.
Since November 2016, more than 570 people contracted the disease, according to the county Public Health Services. That led the County Board of Supervisors to declare a state of emergency in September 2017, which was lifted last month.
