SAN DIEGO – Today, Representative Scott Peters (CA-50) made the following statement regarding the results of the Point-in-Time Count released by the San Diego Regional Task Force on Homelessness:

“The results show that there are still too many of our San Diego neighbors who are unsheltered, nearly 1,000 more than last year,” said Rep. Peters. “The silver lining is that the increase was smaller than it was last year, which at least shows a small bend in the curve and, I hope, with every level of government working together, that downward trend will continue.”

In 2023, 5,171 people in San Diego County were unsheltered compared to 4,106 in 2022. This year’s count identified 6,110 unsheltered people. This number includes more than 700 people who took advantage of safe sleeping and safe parking sites in the City of San Diego. Earlier this week, Rep. Peters toured one of these sites, O Lot, with the Downtown San Diego Partnership.

“I was encouraged by the supportive services being offered at the safe sleeping site, which also provides refuge from the very serious dangers faced by those who were previously living on public sidewalks and beneath underpasses,” Rep. Peters added.

Rep. Peters participated in Point-in-Time Count in January – something he has done every year that he’s been in Congress when he has not been in Washington, D.C., for votes in the House of Representatives.

“The bottom line is that we need to lower the cost of housing,” Rep. Peters said. “The San Diego region, like many parts of the country, faces a severe shortage of housing. While San Diego has increased its focus and resources on tackling homelessness, these efforts will only be successful when the number of people moving into permanent housing exceeds the number of people falling into homelessness every day. I’ll continue to do everything I can to bring home federal resources and partner with our local leaders.”

During his time in Congress, Rep. Peters has led many efforts to boost homelessness funding for the San Diego region, provide more shelter beds, make rental housing more affordable, and incentivize housing construction. In the last several months alone, he’s:

• Secured $1.5 million for the San Diego Housing Commission’s conversion of unused office space into a 44-bed LGBTQ+-affirming youth shelter.
• Urged the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to revisit the flawed formula it uses to allocate federal homeless services dollars. In January, HUD acknowledged the funding formula needs to be updated and said it’s working on a fix.
• Reintroduced the Rent Relief Act, a bipartisan bill support that would provide a refundable tax credit to renters who spend more than one-third of their income on rent.
• Reintroduced the bipartisan Build More Housing Near Transit Act to encourage the construction of low- and middle-income housing in transit-served, walkable locations.