Report: Fewer homeless people finding housing

A monthly report released Monday showed 1,141 people in San Diego County fell into homelessness for the first time in April while 714 homeless people were housed.

The Regional Task Force on Homelessness report shows the continuation of a trend that was first noted in October with the release of 12 months of data that found an average of 13 people became homeless for every 10 homeless people who were housed.

The latest report found April was one of the worst months for people trying to find housing since the data collection began.

Other months have been worse, however. In October 2021, only 609 people were housed and 1,232 fell into homelessness. The report from October 2022 showed only 647 people found housing while 1,343 became homeless.

The number of people who received housing since then has continued to be lower than most of last year, when as many as 1,429 found housing in one month. Since last October, the number of people housed has ranged from 625 to 832.

The task force does not issue an analysis of the monthly reports, so there has been no speculation about why the number of people housed has dipped since a high mark last year.

The months with the highest numbers, however, do coincide with the opening of the St. Teresa of Calcutta Villa, which provided housing for about 500 homeless people. Following the February opening of the East Village housing project, about 1,300 to 1,400 people found housing each month over the next four months.

The number of people who found housing dropped to 658 in July and has not reached 1,000 in any month since then.

The 714 people who found housing in April include 302 who moved into subsidized rental housing, 223 who rented units without subsidy and 113 who moved in with family members.

The people who found housing in April include 163 seniors, 111 veterans, 80 people ages 18-24 and 83 families.

The report also found 4,045 people entered programs to serve people who are homeless or facing homelessness in April.