KPBS Midday Edition

San Diego City, County Team Up On Latest Homeless Initiative

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

Published June 24, 2021 at 10:04 AM PDT

This story was published more than 2 years ago.

Homeless tents are shown lined up downtown Diego, April 26, 2021.

The first phase of the effort, which launches on Monday, includes outreach to those living on the street and the reopening of some city-funded shelter beds closed during the pandemic.

A joint effort by the city and county of San Diego to address homelessness in the area is set to begin next week.

The first phase of the effort, which launches on Monday, includes outreach to those living on the street and the reopening of some city-funded shelter beds closed during the pandemic. The second phase will involve outreach specifically to those who are homeless and have substance abuse issues. Currently there are no shelter options for people who are not sober or "not actively committed to sobriety," according to a press release, but this new effort will include housing for that group. The second phase is slated to begin in August.

The number of homeless people living on the streets in downtown San Diego and surrounding areas has increased dramatically, according to the Downtown San Diego Partnership. This is in line with the most recent report from the San Diego Regional Taskforce on the Homeless, which found that over 38,000 people received housing or services from the area's homeless system in 2020, up from 31,400 in 2019.

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San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher joined Midday Edition on Thursday to discuss the new joint city/county effort to tackle the area's growing homelessness problem.

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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.

See stories by Brooke Ruth