In the January 2022 count, the Downtown San Diego Partnership recorded the highest number of unsheltered people in the Downtown area since 2016. The number of individuals sleeping on the street and those estimated to be sheltering in cars and encampments has risen sharply, nearly doubling those of January 2021.
In response to this crisis, community leaders and the Downtown Partnership are calling for immediate action to provide short-term alternatives to living on the street or in encampments. Specifically, they are advocating for a Safe Village pilot program, which would offer non-congregate shelter for transitional resources.
Safe Villages would provide basic human needs such as bedding, bathrooms, showers, and security, and would offer municipal and social services like health care and counseling. Betsy Brennan, President and CEO of the Downtown Partnership, has stated that COVID-19 continues to spread, halting shelter intakes and straining availability of existing shelter options.
Several successful Safe Village programs with various resources already exist in cities across the country. While the ultimate solution to end homelessness is to build more permanent supportive housing, transitional resources like Safe Villages are needed until more affordable homes become available on the market.
The Downtown San Diego Partnership has partnered with Lived Experience Advisors to draft a proposal on Safe Village site operations, and it looks forward to presenting this plan to regional leaders in the coming weeks. The organization maintains several other priorities to support solutions for homelessness, including expanding shelter capacity, increasing outreach with professionals trained to assist those with behavioral health or substance abuse needs, and deploying resources in a coordinated, compassionate, and data-driven way.
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