By Lisa Halverstadt and Kayla Jimenez / Voice of San Diego / April 6, 2020
As the coronavirus pandemic rages through the region and most people stay home, homeless San Diegans are confronting a loss of food resources they have long relied on to survive.
Many meal operations – both organized and impromptu – have halted. Cafés and restaurants that once served as daytime refuges from the streets and in some cases, handed over free food, are no longer open. Meanwhile, promises of an influx of new shelter options largely have yet to materialize for unsheltered people in San Diego. For now, those living on the streets are mostly detached from daily news updates on the coronavirus, leading to more fear and confusion and for some, battles with hunger.
Brian Schultz, 52, who usually stays near the San Diego River in the Mission Valley area, said he and friends have on at least one occasion gone without meals for days. He estimated he’s lost 10 pounds the past few weeks as resources have dried up.
Schultz said some of his friends have struggled with exhaustion and have broken down crying. “I am watching people I care about who are starving to death,” Schultz said.
Other homeless San Diegans also describe increasing daily struggles to access food. Ernesto Rubalcaba, 60, who stays in the Chicano Park area, said fellow San Diegans no longer stop by with snacks or warm food that he and others once appreciated.
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