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Surge Expected in Number of Homeless Vets Seeking Winter Shelter

The City of San Diego’s Winter Shelter for Homeless Veterans opens tomorrow in the Midway area. Some are questioning if it will have enough beds to handle the number of homeless vets who need shelter

Surge Expected in Number of Homeless Vets Seeking Winter Shelter

The City of San Diego’s Winter Shelter for Homeless Veterans opens tomorrow in the Midway area. Some are questioning if it will have enough beds to handle the number of homeless vets who need shelter. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The Winter Shelter for Veterans is in a tent on a defense department parking lot off Sports Arena Boulevard. As in past years, it has room for 150 male veterans.  

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David Ross, a Korean Vet told the city council today the shelter isn’t going to meet the need, as the number of homeless veterans continues to increase.

Ross: I’ve been out there every night for the last three weeks and I’ve had a line of them for the last three weeks waiting to get into the tent. We’ve got 50,000 returning vets and increasing and they’ll be filtering into our cities we don’t have enough room for them. Now what are we going to do with them as they come back.

The Veterans’ Village which runs the shelter says many vets return to San Diego for the winter because of the weather. The Alliance to End Homelessness estimates vets make up one in four of the homeless in the nation and more than 495,000 vets were homeless at some time last year.

Alison St John, KPBS News.