Lots of folks feel like they’re seeing more people sleeping in tents and on the streets in San Diego, especially downtown.
The numbers back that up – there was a 19 percent jump in unsheltered homelessness countywide last year.
Despite the increase, local officials say they’re doing more than ever to try to get people off the streets. Advocates, though, say it’s still not enough.
The annual census of San Diego County’s homeless population showed a .6 percent decrease in overall homelessness but a 19 percent increase in the number of people sleeping on the streets.
The seemingly contradictory results of the count could be partly tied to the shifting approach to combating the homeless problem.
On this week’s San Diego Explained, NBC San Diego’s Monica Dean and Voice of San Diego’s Lisa Halverstadt explain the results of the yearly homeless census and give some examples of the new initiatives geared toward better serving the homeless population.