There’s been a math problem at the center of San Diego’s homelessness crisis for at least the past three years.
More San Diegans are falling into homelessness for the first time and service providers’ efforts to move unhoused people into homes haven’t kept up.
This past year, the Regional Task Force on Homelessness reports that more people exited homelessness, but the number of newly homeless San Diegans eclipsed that progress.
The nonprofit which coordinates the countywide response to the crisis reported that 11,456 formerly homeless people moved into homes – up nearly 30 percent from last year. But 15,657 people sought homeless services for the first time, a 10 percent increase from last year’s total.
That’s the equivalent of 14 people accessing homeless services for the first time for every 10 formerly homeless residents who were housed from October 2023 through September 2024.
Task Force CEO Tamera Kohler wrote in a statement that she considers the numbers both encouraging and further evidence of a service system and housing market unable to meet the need.
“It indicates we improved in housing more people, but we also know the system continues to be overwhelmed, serving more people who are homeless for the first time,” Kohler said. “Without a dedicated local funding source and a lot more housing across the board, we are going to continue to face challenges.”
The increased housing outcomes follow an uptick in new subsidized affordable housing projects and units that likely won’t continue at the same pace.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria saw the new report as another data point underlining the need to redouble efforts to deliver more housing.
“While the progress is encouraging, we continue to face significant challenges due to constrained housing supply, which has pushed rents sky-high,” Gloria wrote in a statement. “We must continue to build more housing and ensure every San Diegan has a roof over their head at a price they can afford.”
Sofia Cardenas, data and compliance manager for homeless-serving nonprofit Alpha Project, said new projects allowed service providers to house dozens of people at a time in recent months.
Cardenas also had some other theories on what drove the regionwide increase in San Diegans exiting homelessness in the past year. She thinks increased focuses on shared housing options championed by fellow nonprofit Townspeople and diversion programs aiming to help shelter residents and others who are newly unhoused avoid a longer stint of homelessness with a burst of temporary assistance helped too.
Cardenas said a pot of flexible funding provided by the Task Force to help with onetime costs like apartment deposits and past-due bills gave diversion efforts a shot in the arm.
Yet the flow of newly homeless San Diegans continues. Cardenas and other service providers constantly meet them.
“Unfortunately, it’s the same sad story of people getting priced out of their communities,” Cardenas said.
Many of them are seniors. Task Force data shows 2,569 of the San Diegans who accessed homeless services for the first time this past year were over 55. Another 1,707 were young adults under 25 and 1,213 were families. Just over 900 were veterans.
In a statement, San Diego City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera wrote that he sees the latest Task Force data as more evidence that the city, county and other local governments should continue to bolster homelessness prevention programs to stem the flow of people becoming homeless for the first time.
“The data from the past year is clear,” Elo-Rivera wrote. “We’ve improved in getting people who are experiencing homelessness into permanent housing, and we will see the results we all desire if we expand the prevention programs that have proven successful in keeping vulnerable people off the streets.”
First question: Does Mr. Stephens own the bicycle in the photo? How does a homeless person get their hands on a brand new $ thousand-dollar bike?
Second question: why does VOSD’s YIMBY editor prevent your reporters from digging into the obvious correlations between city council upzoning actions, increasing evictions of residents of older affordable homes to make room for new luxury apartment blocks and the growing number of homeless people living in San Diego? Are the actions of city hall politicians the root cause of the city’s homelessness problems?
Of course he doesn’t own that bike unless you consider theft a legitimate way of attaining ownership. The wet-behind-the-ears photographer was more interested in staging a photo where she could capture the most pathetic angle of that bum who, by the way, is a known thief and a known drug user. Despite numerous offers of services, he refuses and he continues to be an active contributor to the crime in the area. Why doesn’t the reporter mention that? I bet the pay is worth it so some to continue supporting the agenda of the poverty pimps….
The reporter is not a reporter but an activist who for almost a decade now has been working to guilt residents into throwing more money at the homeless-industrial complex.
Third question? Where is the graph included in the story?
The data and the graph in this article are about as valuable as fecal matter. It is all regurgitated lies from the “service providers” who want to ensure that they continue receiving funds for their own personal gain and egos.
Once again, we have an article that continues to omit the fact that many of these homeless people are not from San Diego. Many are not even from California. The problem is, the homeless industry here in San Diego keeps fabricating their own “data” from their “studies” and “research” that, of course, support their argument that they need more local, state and federal funding. Irresponsible journalism like what often is on this “news” site reinforces the lies and dishonesty created by these poverty pimps. I have numerous direct and indirect connections to the homeless community and the fraudulent “service providers” and one day their scam is going to be cracked wide open. There’s just too much money at stake now and too many people are benefitting from the funding that is being distributed with no oversight whatsoever. Now let’s see how long this comment survives here. The new breed of “journalists” today hate it when they get called out.
The “reporter,” who is actually an activist, has been repeatedly called out over the years, but continues to smugly blame residents while making excuses for junkies, and always always always saying that “providers” need more money, law-abiding residents are to blame, and it’s a shortage of housing, not a failure to stay clean and functional, that sends the homeless to poop on sidewalks. These articles exist to help the homeless-industrial complex attain grants.
I’m a single mom of two who works within my community at a local school. Im getting priced out of the state! More than half of my apartment complex has been evicted due to a “substantial remodel. The wealthy investors did not initially apply for any permits for this remodel with the city which I believe is illegal. I also believe they have done this all around the county on there other properties. I’ve been fighting this for a year and encourage more people to do so. I’m a voice of San Diego! I also know this is the loop hole around the rental cap for developers. This is also another cause of homelessness. I’m educated and not a junkie. If I can’t fight this my kids and I will be homeless for the first time.. I know services are limited. We need some stronger state laws to keep those already housed in a home.