SAN DIEGO \u2014 A few months ago, Kimberly Edmonds was living in a park in San Diego. She hid her suitcases, struggled to sleep, and searched for a way out of homelessness.<\/p>\n
Then she called 2-1-1. That call eventually led her to Rachel\u2019s Promise Center for Women and Children in downtown San Diego.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could not stop crying,\u201d Edmonds said.<\/p>\n
A public-private partnership had expanded Rachel\u2019s Promise from 50 beds to 210, adding space for women and children experiencing homelessness. The expansion includes meals, showers, laundry and other support services.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s part of a broader strategy San Diego officials said is helping reduce the number of people living unsheltered.<\/p>\n
San Diego diversifies its shelter options<\/p>\n
Mayor Todd Gloria said the city has focused not only on adding shelter beds but on creating different types of temporary housing. That includes traditional shelters, safe parking, and supervised safe sleeping sites.<\/p>\n
San Diego\u2019s latest Point-in-Time Count found a 6.6% year-over-year decline in unsheltered homelessness within the city. It marked the second consecutive year of decline.<\/p>\n
Across the county, the 2026 count found 5,108 people living unsheltered, down from 5,714 the year before. Meanwhile, 4,695 people were counted in shelters or transitional housing, up from 4,191.<\/p>\n
One of San Diego\u2019s most distinctive approaches is its safe sleeping program, which provides tents in supervised locations for people experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n
Gloria said the goal is to create environments that make people more willing to accept help \u2014 and ultimately leave homelessness behind. But getting people inside is only part of the challenge.<\/p>\n
The permanent housing question<\/p>\n
San Diego\u2019s homelessness system has made progress getting people into permanent housing, too.<\/p>\n
A recent three-year analysis by the Regional Task Force on Homelessness found that the percentage of households exiting the homeless services system to permanent housing increased from 23% to 29%.<\/p>\n
But the average amount of time people spend experiencing homelessness has remained a challenge.<\/p>\n
That raises a larger question for San Diego \u2014 and other California cities watching its approach: Can temporary shelter become a bridge to permanent housing rather than a destination?<\/p>\n
Gloria said he isn\u2019t declaring victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have more work to be done,\u201d he said. \u201cThis mayor is not saying mission accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Edmonds, though, the immediate change has been profound.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy. I\u2019m excited because I\u2019m starting to be human,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Now, she\u2019s looking toward her next goal: finding a permanent place to call home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN DIEGO \u2014 A few months ago, Kimberly Edmonds was living in a park in San Diego. She…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[26528,43387,7,1493,74,76,75,5999,136,5996],"class_list":["post-442556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-anna-albaryan","tag-app-homelessness","tag-california","tag-homelessness","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-socal-what-you-need-to-know","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}