A helping hand for homeless San Diegans was offered outside the county administration building downtown Friday.
Comfort and care services were provided free of charge, for World Homeless Day.
“We got haircuts, manicures, pedicures, acupuncturists, doctors. Things to help you get better. Less service focused, more like, ‘Hey lets try and have one good day out of the year,’” said John Brady, executive director of Lived Experience Advisors and the main organizer of the event.
While the daytime portion was a time for support, he said it also led up to an evening of remembrance, with thousands of flameless candles laid out on the ground in what Brady called “the Street of Souls.”
He said, “It's a representation of all 3,756 lives we lost in the streets over the last 12 years.”
Brady said that number comes from the San Diego County Medical Examiner.
The candles are laid out like a real-life bar graph, each bar representing the number of homeless people who died in one year. The numbers increase rapidly around 2020 and stay record-high through 2023.
“That's the impact of fentanyl coming onto our streets in an aggressive way. And the impact of addiction,” Brady said.
Last year, the number of homeless deaths decreased in the county Brady said, adding that outreach teams and access to the overdose reversal drug NARCAN have helped.
“There's all this talk about, ‘If you're homeless, there's plenty of resources, all you need to do is pull yourself up by your bootstraps.’ That could not be further from the truth,” Brady said. “Especially for somebody who is living through the trauma of actually being on the streets."
Some formerly homeless San Diegans helped to set up the event.
“The homeless are humans and we have to show empathy for our fellow humans,” said senior Julie Porter.
She said homelessness can happen for a variety of reasons.
Fellow senior and formerly homeless resident Matthew Kearny said in an expensive region like San Diego, many are at risk — even those that are working full-time.
“So many people are one paycheck away from being homeless. I'm fortunate I have permanent supportive housing. But it could be your brother, sister, a parent, son or a daughter,” Kearny said.
Brady hopes the event brings awareness to the need for more affordable housing and other solutions to prevent homelessness and homeless deaths.
