Why the Time is Now to Solve the Homeless Problem in San Diego

The homelessness problem in San Diego is back in the headlines with today’s scheduled clearing of a large homeless encampment in the Midway District.

As Mayor Todd Gloria put it in a statement, “The situation on Sports Arena Boulevard in the Midway community is wholly unacceptable.” The mayor warns of the potential for outbreaks of disease like COVID, Hepatitis A and most recently shigellosis. And the mayor calls the encampment and others like it a threat to public safety.

The homeless situation in San Diego has been a big problem though for a long time and not just now or in the last few years.  It was early in the early 2000’s that KOGO partnered with the Voice of San Diego to draw attention to the problem with a close up look at it and special broadcasts and forums with experts. 

And now here we are facing a situation that the mayor says compels us to act now as he put it.

San Diego’s been known as a city that is a good one for people experiencing homeless, with warmer weather and what has been a greater tolerance for the situations in which people who are homeless find themselves.

But because the homeless problem creates other problems, involving public health, the local business community, the negative impact on tourism dollars to our economy, that raises the tax revenue that funds efforts to combat homelessness and its impacts, it’s become pretty clear that the time to get more serious about doing something about it is now.

(Photo Getty Images)