Last week we learned that homelessness has reached a new record this year.
The latest homeless census shows there are 10,605 homeless residents across the county sleeping in shelters or on the streets. That’s up from 10,264 in 2023.
That’s a 3 percent year-over-year spike, as our Lisa Halverstadt reported. It’s nothing compared to the previous year’s 22 percent hike. But it’s still a new high.
What’s the count? Every year, volunteers with the Regional Task Force on Homelessness conduct a count on one day in January of people living in shelters, cars and on the street. The results aren’t perfect, but it’s the largest survey of the region’s homeless population.
Halverstadt dug into the results and what the numbers tell us about San Diego County’s efforts to address its greatest crisis. You can read the full story here.
If you want the TL;DR version, grab a cafecito and lets get into it.
Big Takeaways
1. The number of people who have been living on the street for at least a year went up to 2,698. That’s a 19 percent increase from the previous year. The government defines this as chronically homeless, someone who has a disability and has spent a least a year on the street.
2. The number of homeless seniors went up to 1,833. That’s a 22 percent spike. Forty-three percent of the homeless seniors counted reported that they were homeless for the first time.
3. North County reporter Tigist Layne wrote that North Inland County (Escondido, Vista and San Marcos) saw a 34 percent overall increase in homelessness from last year. She wrote about what spikes we saw in other parts of North County in her newsletter. Read more here.
What They Are Saying
While this year’s count shows homelessness is up again, officials found it to be “promising” that the trend is down from the previous year.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria: “This year’s Point in Time Count results are one of several indicators that our sustained efforts to increase homeless shelter capacity and get people off the street is turning the tide on this crisis. While this trend is promising, it is further proof that now is not the time to retreat or become stagnant in our efforts to address homelessness, but rather to double down,” he posted on X.
Rep. Scott Petters. “The results show that there are still too many of our San Diego neighbors who are unsheltered,” he told the Union-Tribune. “The silver lining is that the increase was smaller than it was last year, which at least shows a small bend in the curve and, I hope, with every level of government working together, that downward trend will continue.”
Regional Task Force on Homelessness CEO Tamera Kohler. She told Halverstadt that the lower spike this year offers reason for hope, and she sees opportunities to focus on specific populations. “I think we’ve got some places to really make impact if we’re willing to look at the trends and put some of our time and resources there,” Kohler said.
Scoop: District Investigating Superintendent
Education reporter Jakob McWhinney broke some news last week.
He learned that San Diego Unified has launched an internal investigation into its superintendent. Officials wouldn’t say why, but they confirmed there’s an investigation.
San Diego Unified’s spokesperson told McWhinney: “The district is precluded from commenting on personnel matters. All allegations received by the district are taken seriously and investigated,” wrote Maureen Magee.
McWhinney tried asking some of the board members. Two declined to comment. But Unified Board Member Sharon Whitehurst-Payne told him, “the lawyers are handling it.”
The district hired a Los Angeles law firm to conduct the probe.
We’ll keep following the story.
Do you have a new tip? You can email McWhinney at jakob.mcwhinney@voiceofsandiego.org.
More Chisme to Start Your Week
- Oceanside is considering asking its voters to extend a sales tax measure that’s set to expire in two years. This is Measure X, which voters approved in 2018. Wondering where all the money went? Tigist Layne reviewed their financial documents so you don’t have to. Here’s what she found.
- The County Board of Supervisors have chosen their candidate to be the next chief administrative officer. They have not released that person’s name, but our resident politics nerd Scott Lewis has one possible name. Read more here.
Are the homeless numbers being cross referenced with the inmate releases from the seven major prisons in San Diego County? It is frustrating to hear over and over again about how the homeless numbers are going up (and what I infer as, “surprise”) but yet, there is no discussion about the number of prisoner releases from the major facilities within the county. It is no surprise in San Diego and across the country, inmate numbrs are being intenionally lowered.
I learned that this was a corresponding issue through a VOSD podcast!!!!
I would like to think of VOSD as the gold standard in county journalism but i feel like the elephant in the room is being ignored.