SAN DIEGO - As San Diego continues to deal with a growing homeless crisis, one program is showing some promise.
Last year the city of San Diego was awarded 480 emergency housing vouchers, which were funded by the American Rescue Plan passed by Congress.
“I started to live in my car,” said Kirido-Tano Goodrich told NBC 7. “I already suffer from severe mental health and depression, and I started using alcohol to cope.”
Goodrich was homeless after getting out of an abusive relationship. Now he's off the streets thanks to the housing voucher program and getting his life back together, but he says people need to be motivated to make a change in their lives.
"The truth is: If you don’t show up, If you don’t make the calls, if you’re not responsible or diligent yourself, it’s not gonna happen,” said Goodrich.
While the program is working, it's not keeping up with the increasing number of people ending up on the streets. According to the regional homeless task force, 994 people became homeless for the first time in December.