The number of homeless people in San Diego County jumped by 8 percent over the last year, according to an annual report released Tuesday by a countywide group serving the homeless population.
"We hope to bring that number down," said Peter Callstrom, the executive director of the Regional Task Force on Homelessness. "We don't want to see that number increase, but it is reality and it is what we are reporting."
Callstrom and his colleagues said they suspect the recession and increased unemployment shoulder most but not all of the blame. The report, dubbed the Regional Homeless Profile 2010, also stated that the number of people in San Diego County who live in poverty has risen over the last few years.
The report is a snapshot of homelessness in the region as of Jan 9. It is the fruit of the labor of an army of 400 volunteers who fanned throughout the county last January to survey homeless people.
The profile serves two purposes. First, the count opens access to federal housing funds. Second, the profile gives officials an idea of the demographics of the homeless population, which in turn helps show them where to best focus their efforts and budgets.
Among the findings of the newly released report: Men living on the streets outnumber women by four to one, but more than a quarter of the women cited domestic violence as the reason for their homelessness.
Nearly two-thirds of the county's homeless population is between 40 and 60 years old.
Four of every 10 homeless people reported accessing an emergency room for medical care last year.
And nearly 46 percent of the homeless people surveyed reported they have trouble with substance abuse, according to the report.
More than 8 percent of the county's homeless population live in Escondido, a distant second to the 53.6 percent in the city of San Diego, but a higher percentage than every other city in the county. Oceanside comes in third at 6.1 percent.
Patricia Begley, who is homeless in Escondido, said she has "absolutely" seen an increase of homeless people on the city's streets and in the parks over the last few years.
"There's a lot of new people out here," said Begley, 63. "They are losing jobs and homes and are out here on the street. This is their last stop."
Jason Coker, spokesman for the Escondido-based Interfaith Community Services, which offers services to North County's low-income populations, said the organization has seen the number of people who come in for help increase by 50 percent over the last two years, he said. And donations, he said, are down.
"The situation is urgent," Coker said.
Interfaith has 47 two-bedroom apartments available for homeless families, but the wait to get in is about a year, said Tracy Chester, director of family housing at Interfaith.
She said she receives nearly 20 calls a day for housing requests from families either on the street or on the verge of eviction.
"The biggest change is that I used to get calls mostly related to domestic issues, but now most of the calls I receive are from intact families with children, especially veterans, whose income or employment problems have suddenly put them in a crisis."
While the city of San Diego may have a large and visible homeless population, Escondido has a higher percentage per capita.
In San Diego, the number of homeless people is 33 of every 10,000, according to the report, while 50 of every 10,000 people in Escondido is homeless.
Oceanside has about 29 homeless people per 10,000 residents, according to the count, and Encinitas has about 27 per 10,000.
And for every 10,000 residents in Carlsbad, 19 are homeless.
The counts in each of those cities included those in emergency homeless shelters.
San Marcos, which did not have an emergency shelter, the numbers come in at just seven homeless people per 10,000 residents.
Call staff writer Teri Figueroa at 760-740-5442.
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