Two years ago, when a California state senator first organized an “Ending Homelessness Summit” in San Diego County, much of the discussion was centered on how a massive investment in federal funds could get more people into permanent housing.
On Wednesday, amid contracting budgets, a shrinking social safety net and aggressive encampment sweeps in the nation’s capital, the annual event’s title had been tweaked to include a new word: “Ending Street Homelessness Summit.”
“We need to embrace the fact that this urgent crisis is the immediate goal,” Elizabeth Funk, CEO of the nonprofit DignityMoves, said during one of the panels at UC San Diego. “There’s nothing shameful, or squandering resources, about getting everybody indoors so that we can solve the housing crisis, and the homelessness problem broadly.”
California Senator Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, speaks during her third annual homelessness summit on Aug. 13, 2025. (Ariana Drehsler / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The shift in emphasis reflects how much the homelessness services landscape has changed since state Sen. Catherine Blakespear, a Democrat from Encinitas, began pulling together elected officials, nonprofit leaders and other advocates to speak at public forums.
Budget deficits at the city, county and state level have already caused some local programs to be cut. San Diego’s Independent Budget Analyst recently said limited resources meant the city should largely stick to maintaining, not expanding, available aid. Plus, certain state funding is now dependent on municipalities having clear plans to remove encampments.
This has all led some officials to conclude that much of the money still at play must go toward boosting capacity within the region’s strained shelter system. “The thing that we should be most focused on” is “unsheltered street homelessness,” Blakespear told the crowd. “We’ve come to see it as somehow inevitable until we solve the housing crisis.”
This idea can be controversial. Leaders at some local aid organizations, such as Housing 4 the Homeless, believe permanent placements need to remain the focus. Members of other groups, such as Lived Experience Advisors, sometimes push for a middle ground: They may oppose large, one-room shelters while supporting projects offering more private spaces.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, left, and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan speak during the “Ending Street Homelessness Summit” at UC San Diego on Aug. 13, 2025. (Ariana Drehsler / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Many shelters initiatives are moving in that direction. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, one of Wednesday’s speakers, said this year his city planned to launch around 1,000 temporary units, including tiny homes and converted motel rooms, which should get at least half of the area’s homeless population under a roof.
Some resources were freed up, Mahan noted, by cutting the number of local outreach workers.
Shelters often require cooperation between cities and counties. That cooperation is far from guaranteed. San Diego’s Rosecrans shelter recently shut down after the city of San Diego and the county couldn’t agree on who should pay for what. One panel featured both San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and San Diego County Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe, and the two acknowledged the tension between their respective governments while adding that they were in regular communication.
“The public fights are not productive,” Montgomery Steppe said.
San Diego County Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe speaks during the “Ending Street Homelessness Summit” at UC San Diego on Aug. 13, 2025. (Ariana Drehsler / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The supervisor added that she was open to state legislation to more clearly spell out a county’s role in operating a shelter as long as there was funding to support the work. In the meantime, Montgomery Steppe said she remained committed to building dozens of small sleeping cabins for homeless people in Lemon Grove, even though the outcry from some neighbors has become so pronounced that there’s a recall effort against that city’s mayor.
Gloria also nodded to President Donald Trump’s push this month for federal agents to take down encampments in Washington, D.C. It’s an “easy sell” to say “I can make this all go away tomorrow,” the mayor said. “But in your heart of hearts, you know that’s not true.”
“We have to build the housing, we have to site the board and cares, we have to construct the mental hospitals,” Gloria added. (Board and care facilities offer housing and supportive services for people with mental illnesses.)
San Diego Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, left, and District Attorney Summer Stephan speak during the “Ending Street Homelessness Summit” at UC San Diego on Aug. 13, 2025. (Ariana Drehsler / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
In addition, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan gave an update as to how many service providers are using a new phone app that can find open shelter beds. The program currently has 297 users, with another 115 people waiting to join, she said.
Some organizations remained hesitant, Stephan added after the summit. But she was optimistic that most would sign up by December.
The most recent point-in-time count found that homelessness countywide dropped this year for the first time since before the pandemic. Shelters held 4,191 people while an additional 5,714 individuals were living out of tents, vehicles or sleeping bags.
Originally Published: August 13, 2025 at 9:16 AM PDT