SAN DIEGO — For nearly two years, the number of people falling into homelessness countywide is larger than the number of people finding a home; and advocates say that trend could be here to stay.
According to data provided by the San Diego Regional Task Force on Homelessness, this has been an ongoing pattern since March 2022.
“It’s kind of like a double-edged sword. You’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t,” said Reuben who chose to omit his last name. He has been living on the streets of downtown San Diego for the past two decades.
He told FOX 5 while the sidewalks may be scarce of tents, the true problem at hand remains the same.
“The money we’ve made back in the day doesn’t compare with now,” Reuben said.
Data with the RTFH shows for the 21st month in a row, the number of people moving into homes is being outweighed by those becoming homeless countywide.
“For path, we did serve about 9,000 people last year and were able to get 700 people housed,” said Jayna Lee, who works as an outreach director with PATH San Diego.
For she and her team, it’s an unsurprising reality.
“We’re all just one paycheck away from a catastrophe from financial hardship,” Lee said.
Next week, Lee and her team will work closely with the county to collect homelessness data for its federal mandated annual point in time count.
“It needs to drive the number of resources that we have, and we should have a true understanding of what it is because people are asking for services,” Lee said.
As of December, over 1,000 San Diegans were without a home for the first time, while over 700 found a place to live, according to the county’s Regional Task Force on Homelessness.
“What we’re seeing is a lot of first-time homeless people in San Diego…a lot of them are people on fixed incomes, elderly, disabled, who can’t keep up with the market prices that are going on,” Lee explained.
Our reporting partners with the San Diego Union-Tribune also found that with the passing of the City of San Diego’s controversial encampment ban, tents are now popping up along the San Diego River; pushing the trend outside of downtown and perhaps east.
“Any time you go down a river bottom, any time you go into any place where there’s lots of encampments. Thats very dangerous,” shared one unhoused individual with FOX 5.