The latest point in time count of San Diego's homeless population showed a significant increase, with a new record high, according to the report released Thursday.
There was a 22% increase in homelessness in San Diego County, in the city of San Diego alone, the increase was 32 percent compared to a year earlier. This year, the total was 10,264, while last year the total was 8,427. There also was a dramatic increase in the percentage of seniors and women who were homeless.
During a news conference at City Hall Thursday morning, Mayor Todd Gloria offered his reaction to that count. The data looks at the number of people living on the streets and those who are in shelters.
Gloria says a perfect storm of the lack of affordable housing combined with the mental health and addiction crisis has created the environment for this problem to exasperate. He also pointed to other cities, saying they need to do more to help.
"The City of San Diego stands alone when it comes to taking on these issues seriously, and we need other cities to step up and help and house their own individuals from becoming unsheltered, rather than passing them on to our tax payers to provide for,” he said.
SEE FULL REPORT FROM SAN DIEGO REGIONAL TASK FORCE ON HOMELESSNESS.
(Photo Getty Images)