SAN DIEGO – Homelessness in San Diego has grown by at least 10% since 2020, the regional task force on homelessness revealed Thursday as it released its 2022 WeAllCount point count, a one-day snapshot of the minimum number of San Diegans living in emergency shelters, transitional shelters, safe havens, and on the streets and along riverbeds.
The count found 8,427 homeless people in all of San Diego County, a minimal number.
“The challenges of finding every person in a car, canyon, or under a bridge are impossible, but every effort is made to find and engage as many people as we can,” read a statement from RTFH.
This number included 4,106 San Diegans without shelter, with 4,321 people in shelters. Of those surveyed, 85% said they had become homeless while living in the region.
The PITC was held this year in February by over 1,400 volunteers throughout the county. It was the first such count since January 2020, before the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent increase in housing options.
The regional task force on homelessness said comparisons between 2020 and 2022 should not be measured by the same standard and that heavy rains the night before and frigid temperatures the morning of the count may have affected the number of people who sleep outdoors. Still, the total number of people sleeping rough without shelter increased by 3%.
“These data points give context to a crisis we already see with our own eyes,” said Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, who represents the county on RTFH’s Continuing Care Advisory Board. “The homeless crisis has changed a lot in two years, and with this information, we can do a better job of providing the right kind of help based on people’s unique problems, or better yet, making sure they never lose their home.” home first.”
There are some bright spots in the data, the task force says, including a 30% decline in the homeless veteran population and a 7% decline in the chronic homeless population compared to 2020. The county also saw an increase in transition-age youth in shelters. Additional shelter options throughout the region also made a difference, as well as a major housing effort in downtown San Diego that housed approximately 150 San Diegans the week before the count.
