Number of Homeless in San Diego County Has Risen Since Last Year, Group Finds

An annual count of how many homeless people are in San Diego County was 5.9 percent higher than last year’s count, increasing from 8,517 in 2010 to 9,020 this year, the Regional Task Force on the Homeless (RTFH) announced Friday.

The group conducted its Point-In-Time Count on Jan. 28 between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. Volunteers fanned throughout the county, keeping a tally of the number of people sleeping on the streets and beaches, in parks, riverbeds, canyons and other outdoor places, as well as shelters, transitional housing and motels.

The count supplies officials with information they can use when applying for federal funds to aid the homeless population, and is mandated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“This year’s count is the most comprehensive since the inception of this HUD mandate in 2005,” Peter Callstrom, RTFH executive director, said in a statement. “The data collected allows our community and continuum of care (service providers, funders and advocates) to understand and accurately report information.”

The count was divided into two parts, sheltered and unsheltered. This year’s unsheltered count rose to 4,981, up 8.3 percent from the 4,599 counted in 2010. The sheltered count also rose, from 3,918 in 2010 to 4,039 this year, an increase of 3.1 percent. A preliminary count result released on Feb. 10 reported a countywide increase of 3.3 percent, but further review of the maps used during the count bumped the increase to 5.9 percent, according to a press release issued by the RTFH.

In addition to the Point-In-Time count, the task force administered in-depth questionnaires of unsheltered homeless persons in February. The results of those surveys were not released.

According to the RTFH, San Diego County has reported a 19 percent overall increase of homelessness since 2008.