Unsheltered homeless families down 72% in latest count
by Gary Warth
Results from this year’s Point-in-Time (PIT) Count of homeless people in San Diego County show progress among several populations, with families and young adults showing some of the most significant decreases in the number of people living in shelters or on the street.
The number of families living without shelter decreased from 43 to 12 over the past year, a 72% drop, according to the PIT administered by the Regional Task Force on Homelessness (RTFH). When counting individuals in families, the number decreased from 142 to 64, a 68% drop.
Families living in shelters also decreased, from 465 households in 2024 to 405 this year, a 13% drop. When counting individuals, the number of family members in shelters decreased from 1,421 to 1,292, a 9% drop.
“It’s all very encouraging,” said Deacon Jim Vargas, president and CEO of Father Joe’s Villages, which runs programs for families.
“Locally, we have had more and more families come to us, and we’re able to accommodate them,” he said.
Father Joe’s operates the 246-bed Family Living Center and the 10-bed Saint Margaret of Cortona Harbor for young pregnant women and their children.
The nonprofit also has 248 sober-living beds and is adding 44 detox beds, and Vargas said Father Joe’s is seeing more people coming in for recovery, which could have contributed to the overall decline in homelessness.
Amber Lucky, 35, is among the people helped by Father Joe’s family program.
She and her aunt and grandmother all were evicted from the home they shared in 2017. A drug user at the time, Lucky became homeless and began living in a tent in downtown San Diego.
It was there where she met her future husband, Billy, also homeless and addicted.
Life got more complicated four months later when Lucky became pregnant with her first daughter.
“When I found out I was pregnant, I went cold turkey,” she said. “I completely abstained from everything.”
The couple moved into a shelter at Father Joe’s, and then into the Family Living Center after their daughter was born in October 2018.
“They had job training programs there, but the thing is, I wasn’t completely ready,” Lucky said. “I just wasn’t there yet.”
The family moved into an apartment through a housing program, but Billy’s health deteriorated and he had a series of strokes. Lucky became pregnant again, and said again abstained from drugs and alcohol.
Their second daughter was born in 2020, the same year Billy was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Surgery for the cancer left him needing a colostomy bag, and the stress of caring for him and two young children became too much for Lucky.
“That’s sort of when my addiction went to turbo drive,” she said about relapsing. “It was really hard.”
In June 2021, Lucky hit rock bottom when she and her aunt overdosed on fentanyl at home. She barely survived. Her aunt did not.
A week later, Child Protective Services took both their daughters away and Billy had another stroke.
“In August 2021, I found Alcoholics Anonymous,” she said. “And in September, at my husband’s death bed, I showed him my 30-day sobriety token and I told him I would stay sober, get our daughters back and keep his memory alive.”
Billy was 59. The night he died, Lucky said she believes she was tested by the devil because she got off a bus at Fashion Valley and saw two cans of beer sitting in plain sight, unattended. She then started chatting with a couple, and the man took out a meth pipe and began smoking.
“I have to tell you, it was very tempting but I didn’t do it,” she said. “And I think at that moment I was able to walk away from alcohol and drugs. That’s when I thought I might be able to do this recovery thing.”
Lucky began going to church and entered two outpatient programs. After 16 months, she regained custody of her children.
She got a job at the Sherman Heights Community Center and then H&R Block. She now works as a homeless outreach case manager with People Assisting the Homeless (PATH).
She and her daughters moved into an apartment funded with rapid rehousing, a program that provides subsidies that taper off as a tenant becomes self-sufficient.
Lucky said the funding is about to end, which is OK because she can afford the rent herself. Her children are healthy and enrolled in school.
The latest PIT results also show significant progress made in the transitional-age youth population.
The number of children and young adults living on the street or in shelters also showed a significant decrease. Among transitional age youth (18-24 years old), the unsheltered population decreased from 380 in 2024 to 298 this year, a 22% drop. For people younger than 18, the unsheltered population decreased from 85 to 73, down 14%.
In shelters, the number of transitional-age youth dropped from 459 to 378, down 18%, and the number of children younger than 18 decreased from 871 to 807, down 7%.
Urban Street Angels operates a 53-bed emergency shelter for transitional-age youth in downtown San Diego and two transitional housing programs in La Mesa to accommodate 75 people. In July, the nonprofit also plans to open more transitional housing in Vista to accommodate 18 people.
Eric Lovett, founder and president of Urban Street Angels, said a program introduced in late 2023 has helped once-homeless youth learn new job skills that could lead to careers that earn a living wage.
“One of the things that we’re seeing that’s made a huge difference is our trade school program,” he said. “Basically, we introduced a scholarship program for our youth, getting them enlisted in things like EMT, culinary, welding and the medical fields.”
Lovett said the program has had a 95% success rate of graduates finding full- or part-time work, and the goal for this year is to have 80 or 90 people go through the program.
“I really attribute a lot to our youths finding their passion and their path and changing that trajectory,” he said.
Gary Warth is the director of government relations, policy and communications for RTFH.
