By Supervisor Joel Anderson
February 7, 2025 (San Diego’s East County) -- Recently, I joined thousands of volunteers across San Diego County in participating in the 2025 #WeAllCount Point-in-Time Count - San Diego County's annual homelessness census.
This was my fourth time participating in the count, which is crucial to collecting data on the number and needs of people experiencing homelessness in San Diego County. This data is used all year long to help our region make decisions on where and how to target and advocate for funding in our efforts to address homelessness countywide.
About 40 of us met at St. Alban's Episcopal Church in El Cajon at 3:30 a.m. and set out to locate and survey people living in encampments and along the riverbeds.
For me, this annual event is more than just a morning of data collection.
This count puts real faces and names behind San Diego County's homelessness crisis and creates a new sense of urgency for anyone who participates. Their stories have played a big role in informing my policies and ideas to address homelessness, and helping determine where we can improve.
Since taking office in 2021, we have successfully implemented several innovative programs to address homelessness throughout San Diego County, with a particular focus in East County.
These policies and programs include:
- Opening a Safe Parking lot in East County
- Successfully advocated for $850k from Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (CA-51) for a Safe Parking lot in Grantville (opening soon)
- Creating a Memorandum of Understanding on addressing homeless between the County of San Diego and East County cities
- Launching the Shallow Rent Subsidy Program to keep seniors off the streets and their homes
- Successfully obtained $17M in funding from the CA Governor's Office to address homelessness along the San Diego Riverbed through a collective partnership between the City of San Diego, County of San Diego, Caltrans, and the City of Santee
- Initiating a housing match program for seniors looking to live with other seniors
- Empowering local churches and nonprofits to host temporary emergency shelter sleeping cabins on their properties through a county grant
Check out this video below to follow along with me throughout the morning and see what the count is all about!
The opinions in this editorial reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.