Despite the City of San Diego's efforts, the number of homeless people in Downtown San Diego continues growing.
According to the Downtown San Diego Partnership, 1,839 people were homeless in Downtown San Diego in December of 2022.
That number increased by 133 from 1,706 in November 2022.
“The state of homelessness in the city of San Diego is moving in the wrong direction quickly and it's heartbreaking,” said Drew Moser, Executive Director at Lucky Duck Foundation.
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Mayor Todd Gloria’s Administration continues to stress their efforts to provide more housing for homeless San Diegans.
“First, it’s important to note in your story that the Regional Task Force on Homelessness recently reported that for every 10 people who are placed into housing, 13 others become homeless. The City’s programs are working, but the high cost of housing and other factors are making the problem worse,” Deputy Communications Director in the Office of Mayor Todd Gloria, Dave Rolland said.
Homelessness in San Diego
The City of San Diego has been providing services to assist people.
“In 2022 alone, more than 1,500 people have been placed into permanent housing through the City’s street outreach, shelter and Safe Parking programs. They are more than stopgap interventions; they are connections to housing,” Rolland said.
Some San Diegans who are facing homelessness detailed their daily life being unsheltered.
“We try to keep ourselves active and things like that can help us get housing but after a while it gets to be a struggle you know because there’s not that many people that are trying to help,” Ahmad Simmons said.
New shelters are expected to open which will house more people in the Downtown San Diego area.
“In 2022, we opened five new shelters and soon we will open two more,” Rolland said.
