As homelessness rates rise in San Diego County, local authorities are working to prevent homelessness, after data revealed that people are becoming homeless faster than services get unsheltered people housed. Both the San Diego County Board of Supervisors y el San Diego Regional Task Force on Homelessness (RTFH) recently introduced new programs to help better understand, recognize, and prevent homelessness.

On Tuesday, Oct. 25, the County Board of Supervisors passed a new policy proposed by Chair Nathan Fletcher Nathan Fletcher which will incorporate the use of predictive analytics to find people at-risk of homelessness, as well as ‘a new app-based tool’ the County is now using to help connect unsheltered people to services.

“Developing this tool will keep people from becoming homeless. We will continue to tackle the crisis that exists on our streets, but we must invest in preventative actions like this one that stops people from becoming unhoused. This new technology will do it.” Fletcher said in a statement after the passage of the policy.

To enable County staff to assess if a person is at risk of becoming homeless and provide support to keep them housed, a thorough integrated data system will be established employing several data points, both internal and external.

In order to conduct personal outreach to people, the policy also calls for the establishment of a Homelessness Prevention Unit inside the Office of Homelessness Solutions.

Meanwhile, county staff have just started using an app connecting unsheltered people to services. Fletcher explained, “[The app] will mobilize about 60 non-traditional outreach workers like librarians and park rangers who come in contact with unsheltered people to better collect their information and direct them to services.”

Ahead of the Board of Supervisors meeting, the Regional Task Force on Homelessness (RTFH) announced it will start issuing a new monthly report that details how many people enter and depart homelessness each month across San Diego County, in an attempt to better understand gaps in services.

According to RTFH in the past year, for every 10 formerly homeless people connected to permanent housing, 13 people entered homelessness for the first time.

The RTFH, founded nearly 40 years ago, provides the county with essential data and insights on the issue of homelessness, informing policymakers and providing possible causes, solutions, and strategies. RTFH conducts the annual point-in-time count of homeless people in the region, which found no less than 8,427 individuals experiencing homelessness across San Diego County in 2022, a 10% increase from 2020. The monthly reports will add timely context and updates to the annual data.

“RTFH felt it was vital for everyone to better understand that homelessness in San Diego is not a static problem but a constant churn,” RTFH CEO Tamera Kohler said. “While homelessness ends every day for some people, we’re seeing too many people become homeless, overwhelming an already taxed system.”

With assistance from homeless service providers from all throughout the region, the data team at RTFH created this unique monthly data report and will update the statistics on its homepage at least once a month. The first batch of data was already published, and is divided into the previous 12 months.

In two of the last 12 months, according to the newly released data, our region saw more San Diegans exiting the system than becoming homeless. The other 10 months saw more people become homeless than exit the system.

Elected officials welcomed the new monthly report, acknowledging that it will draw a clearer picture for decision-makers and the community as they work toward finding permanent solutions for the most vulnerable San Diegans.

“The monthly report is a useful tool to measure progress in getting people off the streets and into housing,” Fletcher said. “While I am encouraged that so many people are going through regional programs to be housed; we still have too many people on the streets. We are committed to continuing our work with RTFH, service providers, and the 18 incorporated cities to do everything we can to slow the rate of homelessness in our communities.”

The RTFH, service providers, and government entities are working together trying to solve San Diego’s homeless problem, using different tactics and strategies to prevent and understand the issue.

To learn more about the RTFH and the homeless population in San Diego County, please refer to their website. To learn more about the San Diego County Board of Supervisors new policy, read here.