If you live in San Diego you know how bad the homeless problem is here. Drive or walk around down town and many sidewalks look like camp sites complete with tents, cooking containers, sleeping bags, dogs and tarps. According to a 2017 WeAllCount Point-in-time Count approximately 1054 of those are homeless veterans.
As the wife of a 20-year Marine vet it saddens me to think that life on the street is the best we can offer the men and women who volunteered to protect our country. I was pleased to see California recently awarded roughly $62 million to the Veterans Housing and Homelessness Prevention (VHHP) program.
According to a Channel 4 News online piece written by Anna Conkey, "With the money awarded, VHHP is set to add 836 more affordable housing units in California, with 471 to be veteran-specific. Of the 471 units, 243 units will be dedicated to veterans who are chronically homeless." That is a great start with 31 of the units scheduled for San Diego. We still have a long way to go but at least something is happening.
