Opinion: What I learned volunteering to count East County’s homeless population in January

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News Date
02/08/23
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Excerpt from The San Diego Union-Tribune
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Homelessness is a complex issue. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach.

In addition to our Magnolia Safe Parking program, we now have multiple ongoing county initiatives that include a hotel voucher program granting temporary stays and extensive outreach programs throughout our streets and riverbeds. Across all these different approaches, we are encountering a similar result: Around 30 percent of participants successfully transition to permanent housing.

While this is a small step forward, it is still a sign of progress — given that just a few years ago we had no San Diego County shelters and very little services in East County.