Officials say this year’s point-in-time count numbers reflect changes to the process made at the direction of federal officials. Meanwhile, a separate stat sws homelessness could be more than triple the number found in the count.
By Lisa Halverstadt /Voice of San Diego / April 29, 2019
At first glance, San Diego’s latest annual point-in-time count appears to show a modest drop in homelessness. This year, the group counted 8,102 homeless San Diegans countywide compared with last year’s 8,576 estimate.
But officials caution the data isn’t comparable because of changes to the way the count is carried out and to the methodology the group uses to arrive at a final tally.
The Regional Task Force on the Homeless, which coordinates the homeless census, changed its strategy this year at the urging of federal officials and consultants who scrutinized San Diego’s homelessness response amid a deadly 2017 hepatitis A outbreak. The task force’s controversial decision to exclude RVs from last year’s tally added further urgency.
Local leaders said the count represents only a snapshot of a homeless population that’s likely much larger.
In fact, an analysis of data from the homeless management information system the task force oversees revealed 27,850 people used homeless services countywide last year – more than triple the number counted in the annual homeless census.
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As the homeless crisis continues to get worse, it saddens me to hear all the homeless hate mongering going on in Ocean Beach, even among some community leaders. I know it’s a complicated issue, but we all need to be involved in finding solutions. There is a pro-homeless event happening at the foot of Newport on Wednesday, May 8th, to counteract the mayor’s new Vehicle Habitation Ordinance. Here is the link to it https://www.facebook.com/SDHEMA2017/ I will be there. If this is class warfare, I have to be on the side of justice.
just a bunch of fake data by a bunch of well-meaning bureaucrats trying to keep themselves and get $ from some other bureaucrats trying to keep themselves, please, not another round of sleeping bags for the homeless, while you go home to your suburban idyll
How much money spent on homeless services actually reach the homeless? I never see statistics on this aspect. that means – food, shelter, medical services, and bathrooms. Not people in offices making PowerPoint Presentations on those topics.