Urban Street Angels opens new home to prevent youth homelessness

By Gary Warth

July 23, 2026

San Diego youth facing homelessness have a new safe place to live and build a brighter future through the latest effort of Urban Street Angels and their partners.

“We’re just blessed to be able to open another facility for one of the most vulnerable populations in San Diego,” Urban Street Angeles President Eric Lovett-Maerz said July 23 at the press conference announcing the opening of the HarborTAY House.

“The need is great because almost every night on the streets of San Diego, there could be

 1,500 or more homeless youth who have nowhere to go,” he continued. “I’d like to say that the numbers are shrinking but it’s not the way that it’s going.”

The new facility will provide temporary homes for transitional age youth (TAY), 18-24 years old, on the site of a former Pacific Highway motel that has been refurbished with kitchenettes in each room. HarborTAY has 34 rooms and 54 beds and is expected to provide a temporary home for up to 100 youths each year who will stay from nine months to a year.

Its opening follows the August 2025 opening of Urban Street Angel’s VisTAY House,  a 12-bedroom home in Vista also for transitional age youth at risk of or experiencing homelessness.

Urban Street Angels was founded by Lovett-Maerz in 2012 and has helped more than 7,000 local youths, including 420 assisted in the nonprofit’s housing program.

Lovett-Maerz was joined at the press conference by RTFH President and CEO Tamera Kohler and Lucky Duck CEO Drew Moser.

“I believe this will have not only transformational change, and change the trajectory for the youth  who are here, but will also be transformational for our system,” Kohler said. “As we do more preventative and intentional purposeful work, we’ll reduce the level of chronic homelessness in the system. And that’s why it’s so important.”

Kohler also spoke about the importance of collaboration in solving homelessness.

“Really, the truth is no single organization can address homelessness,” she said as she thanked the Lucky Duck Foundation and the David C. Copley Foundation, which provided start-up funds for the project. The County of San Diego is providing behavioral health support for the program’s clients.

Moser noted that almost half of chronically homeless adults became homeless as youths.

“Every day we ask ourselves, how can we help more people move off the streets and find a brighter pathway,” he said. “And that question led us to prioritize youth homelessness, because we believe the surest way to end homelessness tomorrow is to invest in youth today.”

Moser also said the new home will provide more than a bed.

“It’s stability, it’s safety, it’s opportunity,” he said. “It’s really the starting line of a journey to prosperity

 for many, many young people.”

Urban Street Angels also is partnering with the Padres Foundation 5-Tool Trade Academy, which helps youths learn skills in more than 20 potential careers including construction, culinary arts, cosmetology, and healthcare.

HarborTAY clients Robert and Olie also spoke at the press conference.

“This is the spot,” Robert said. “This is the spot if you’re in need. If you’re by yourself, you’re not alone. They’re always here. They always got the doors open.”

Olie spoke about the friends she has made at HarborTAY and the bright future she sees for herself.

“It’s really heartwarming to me that this is the place where I can meet people,” she said. “This is the place where I feel the most supported.

“I wake up every day knowing that I’m going to be safe, that I’m going to be in a place where nothing is going to harm me,” she said. “And knowing that just makes me want to move forward. It makes me want to do better in life. It makes me want to change the world somehow.”