San Diego County has seen a significant increase in the number of homeless persons who have no choice but to live on the streets. Most sleep in the Downtown area on sidewalks in front of buildings, stadiums, homes, and government offices in a parade of tents on display within America’s Finest City.
Ron, an elderly man with health problems and who walks with the help of a cane to hold him up, spends his days in front of City Hall, where he says the hardest thing to find is a place where he can clean up.
“There are no public restrooms, finding a place to go to the bathroom is very difficult. Many times, you find yourself looking for a bathroom when you have to go, that’s hard,” said Ron.
After San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s address, community members and public officials both expressed concern regarding the fact that San Diego has the fourth-largest homeless population in the country.
“What’s most disconcerting is for San Diego to be in this position without being the fourth-largest city in the U.S., so there is a significant disparity, which speaks of the great need to take action on this issue,” stated San Diego City Councilman David Alvarez.
Advocacy groups also felt that the actions taken thus far have been ineffective in resolving the issue, with approaches that favor policing as the main solution to a regional housing crisis.
“The city is frustrated, so are business owners and residents, because there are a lot of people living in the streets. We need professionals in the streets, not police officers. Sending officers to deal with the homeless is a waste of City resources,” said local homeless advocate Michael McConnell. “What we really need is a coordinated strategy and creating better conditions so that people can get out of being homeless, instead of just rotating people through shelters and temporary housing.”
More than 118,000 homeless persons are currently living in California’s streets, making up over 20 percent of the overall homeless population in the U.S. We need to find real solutions now, experts say.
“We certainly have a large number of people living in the streets, particularly in Downtown San Diego, and you can see them walking around with their tents. Our system is really broken, that’s why more and more people end up in the streets and in Downtown San Diego,” added McConnell.