KPBS Midday Edition

Decrease In San Diego's Homeless Population Questioned

By Maureen Cavanaugh / KPBS Midday Edition Co-Host, Brooke Ruth / Senior Producer, Radio News

Published May 1, 2019 at 7:37 AM PDT

This story was published more than 4 years ago.

Roy Thomas gets ready for a flu and Hepatitis A shot at the 13th annual Project Homeless Connect inside Golden Hall, Jan. 30, 2019.

The number of people who are homeless in San Diego County has decreased since last year, according to the results of this year's point in time count. But a new method of counting and questions about how accurate last year’s count was, has cast doubt on whether or not there has been a decrease in the homeless population.

The number of people who are homeless in San Diego County decreased since last year, according to the results of the San Diego Regional Task Force on the Homeless Point-In-Time Count survey.

This year's count put the county's homeless population at 8,102, down from 8,576 last year.

A new method of counting and questions about how accurate last year’s count was has cast doubt on whether or not there has been a decrease in the homeless population, according to reporting from the Voice of San Diego.

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Voice of San Diego reporter Lisa Halverstadt joins Midday Edition on Wednesday to discuss the results of this year's Point-In-Time Count.

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KPBS Midday Edition Homelessness Housing

Maureen Cavanaugh

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Maureen Cavanaugh has been a familiar voice for KPBS listeners for more than 15 years, serving in a variety of capacities including announcer, host, and producer. As host of KPBS Midday Edition, Maureen has interviewed a wide range of notables, such as comedienne Sandra Bernhardt, actor John Lequizamo, author Chuck Palahniuk, composer Marvin Hamlisch, artist Robert Irwin, and designer Zandra Rhodes. But of all the interviews Maureen has conducted, her most special was with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Before joining KPBS in 1997, she worked as a news anchor for KSDO and KOGO News Radio in San Diego. While working for commercial radio stations in San Diego and in Salt Lake City, Utah, Maureen reported on both hard news and lifestyle features. Maureen has received three "Golden Mike" awards from the Radio and TV News Association of Southern California for economic reporting and breaking news. She has also received a "Best of Show" and “Best Radio Newscast” awards from the San Diego Press Club and the "Flo" Award from Public Radio Program Directors Association for Best Public Radio Announcer in a large market. Maureen is a native of Queens, New York, but after more than 20 years in San Diego she feels she qualifies as a real Southern Californian.

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Brooke Ruth

Brooke Ruth is the senior producer for KPBS Radio News. She previously served as a producer for "KPBS Midday Edition" and a web producer. Before joining KPBS, Brooke was a web editor for four newspapers and a local television station. She began her career in news at the Imperial Valley Press. She has also been part of the web teams at the Napa Valley Register, North County Times, and U-T San Diego. While pursuing her undergraduate degree at UCLA in psychology, she worked on the student newspaper, the Daily Bruin.

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