A brand new federal report on homelessness in America has bad news for San Diego County. Our County now has the fourth largest homeless population in the country, according to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). San Diego County is the fifth largest county in America.
Here are some of the numbers:
- 9,160 homeless people in the county; compared with New York City (76,501), Los Angeles County (55,188) and Seattle/King County (11,643).
- 3rd in the number of homeless veterans, with 1,067. Number of homeless veterans went down about 10 percent and now is 12 percent of the total homeless population. Forty-three percent are unsheltered.
- 4th in the number of homeless individuals (as opposed to those in families), 7,571.
- 4th in the percentage of people in homeless families who are unsheltered, 18.4 percent.
- 5th in the percentage of homeless individuals who are unsheltered, 61.6 percent.
- 5th in the number of chronically homeless, 2,088.
- 7th in the number of unaccompanied youth (younger than 25 living alone), 1,160.
- 10th in the number of people in homeless families, 1,589.
- In San Diego, the homeless population increased 5 percent.
- 61.6 % of San Diego’s homeless are living in tents, cars and on the street – compared with 35% nation-wide.
The numbers are based on HUD-mandated “point in time” counts done every January in 3,000 cities and counties across America.
Here are more numbers:
- Nationwide, the homeless population went up 0.7 percent, to 553,742, the first year-over-year increase since 2010, and it means that for every 10,000 people in the nation, 17 are homeless, according to HUD.
- 30 states and the District of Columbia saw decreases in their homeless numbers, 20 states had increases, including California, up 13.7 percent to 134,278. For every 10,000 people in California, 34 are homeless.
- California has almost half of the nation’s unsheltered homeless.
- The top four regions in the country with the highest percentage of unsheltered are in the state: Fresno/Madera (75.8 percent), Los Angeles (74.7), San Jose/Santa Clara (73.7) and Oakland/Alameda (68.6).
- Overall, 68.2 percent of the homeless in California are unsheltered, the highest rate of any state. New York, by contrast, has almost 95 percent of its homeless living in shelters.
- Nationwide, the number of homeless military veterans went up 1.5 percent last year, and that group now makes up 9.1 percent of the total homeless population, according to the report. About 38 percent of them are unsheltered.
- The veterans’ numbers for California: Up 19.4 percent, to 8.5 percent of the total homeless population, with 66.7 percent unsheltered.
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