by Lory Costello-Neeley
Rain is falling on Julian in early March. Yes, it rains in California. Tents are set up next to a pair of vehicles and a walker rests against one SUV. Towels line the car’s windows, making it nearly impossible to see into the front side windows. When you sightsee in Julian to spend time looking for snow and eating the famous local apple pies, the last thing you expect to see is a multi-generation famiy living out of two late-model Chevy Suburbans.
On another day in San Diego, near the coast and inside Mission Bay Park, a similar scene plays out. A man rummages through a plastic bag and what seems to be all of his possessions are spread across his rusted car hood. His four children work off energy on a playground. When the whole family sits down for lunch inside the car it becomes apparent that this car is their home.
San Diego’s homeless population increased 5 percent in the last year. Things are getting worse, not better.
“In many high-cost areas of our country, especially along the West Coast, the severe shortage of affordable housing is manifesting itself on our streets,” reports the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “With rents rising faster than incomes, we need to bring everybody to the table to produce more affordable housing and ease the pressure that is forcing too many of our neighbors into our shelters and onto our streets.”
The increases are largely tipped toward spikes in the number of unsheltered homeless. That’s especially true on the West Coast. Nationwide, about 35 percent of the homeless are living in tents, cars and on the street. In San Diego, it’s 61.6 percent.
There are tales of the homeless migrating to San Diego for the weather and suggestions that more homeless don’t want to leave the streets. That’s not entirely true, reports news website Voice of San Diego. Those wives’ tales can be convenient crutches that make it easier to avoid doing the hard work necessary to aid the homeless. That can enable excuse-making, easier to do than have tough, solutions-oriented conversations about whether we’re doing enough to help the homeless and whether the resources we’re offering them are working.
Earlier this year, a hepatitis A outbreak struck San Diego County that was highly concentrated in the downtown homeless population. The outbreak caused local politicians to look harder at solutions.
Studies show that providing housing and other support— as opposed to paying for the continual medical costs incurred by the chronically homeless—saves taxpayer money over the long run.
Politicians, and the public, don’t always see that “compassionate” solutions save taxpayers money in the long run. The old theory was to make people earn a roof over their head. Now, we need to get people out of harm’s way and the dangers of the street and allow them to heal and re-enter society.
The struggle to create affordable housing is real, and San Diego is grappling with solutions. The city is poised for momentum, but not quite moving forward yet, either.
The numbers from the streets and all the available anecdotal evidence point to a very real problem that can’t be ignored any longer.
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