Planning Department
Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019 - NEWS RELEASE
San Diego – At the Veteran’s Village of San Diego campus, Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer met today with U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson to discuss solutions to homelessness and continued federal support for San Diego’s innovative programs.
“San Diego is taking significant action to reduce homelessness, so I appreciated Secretary Carson once again personally visiting our city to see how we’re doing things differently,” Mayor Faulconer said. “We have creative programs that are making a difference, and we can’t do it alone. Continued support from the state and federal government is critical to not only running these programs but also expanding them to tackle this crisis.”
The meeting, which came at the request of HUD, was a late add to Secretary Carson’s planned tour of the Veteran’s Village campus and bridge shelter. San Diego is one of several cities he visited in California this week. Other cities included San Francisco and Los Angeles. Secretary Carson was last in San Diego in February to tour one of the City’s bridge shelters.
San Diego County did not see the spike in homelessness that many other California regions experienced this year. San Diego’s 2019 “Point-In-Time Count” of the homeless population reported a decrease of 6 percent.
“The leadership in San Diego has a grasp of the homelessness situation, which stems in part from rising housing costs,” Secretary Carson said. “To reduce homelessness in San Diego, the city has developed a housing plan which takes the appropriate steps to alleviate some of the impediments to the production of affordable housing. These actions can make a big difference.”
Topics discussed in their 30-minute meeting include:
Under the direction of Mayor Faulconer, San Diego has seen the largest expansion of homeless services in city history including:
San Diego’s innovative programs have drawn attention from cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, Portland, New Orleans, Phoenix and dozens more. Delegations from Canada, Mexico and other countries have also visited.