Monterey and San Benito County trying to meet Lead Me Home goal to reduce homelessness by 50%
SALINAS, Calif. (KION) - Earlier today, local leaders from San Benito and Monterey County discussed ways to reduce homelessness.
A plan called Lead Me Home plans to reduce homelessness in Monterey and San Benito counties by 50 percent by 2026.
Local leaders say that with so many hurdles, ending homelessness feels like an ambitious goal.
They say the number of unhoused people is higher than expected, and different solutions need to be made.
"This work is not easy. It takes a lot of courage, a lot of leadership, and it's not going to be solved overnight," said Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo.
Dozens gathered to discuss the "Lead me home" plan, a 5-year goal to reduce homelessness by 50% by 2026.
However, as San Benito supervisor Kollin Kosmiki says, it has not been a linear process.
"It may seem, sometimes we take some steps back, but we can see it in this room here today that this, we have a group of people who are ready to take on the challenge," says San Benito County Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki.
According to last year's point-in-time count, 2,436 people experienced homelessness, which is a 19% increase from 2022, according to the county of Monterey.
"We cannot give up hope because this work is daunting. It is really hard. We saw the numbers go down, and then all of a sudden, the numbers went up. So that's like a gut punch……We were on track. At one point, we had seen a series of declines in 2019 and 2021, I believe. There was a decline and collectively 28% decline in homelessness," said Roxanne Willson, Monterey County Homeless Services Director.
Wilson says factors like the pandemic and flooding became reasons for the increase in the unhoused population.
"That goal was set to be reached by 2026. How optimistic are you? And even if you guys don't reach that goal, what are the plans moving forward?" asked KION.
"We are preparing ourselves, re-analyzing the data, reassessing how we are doing our investments. And we're going back to the drawing board. I don't think we're gonna hit the 50% reduction because that means that we would have to identify about 1,500 permanent housing units right now, which do not exist in Monterey or San Benito County," said Wilson.
Wilson says it's important to hold gatherings to bring people fighting for the same goal together.
"We have something as horrible happen as our point in time going up. So we have to continue to inspire hope and inspire action," said Wilson.
KION asked Roxanne Wilson what the number one hurdle is when housing people. She says is a lack of affordable housing, and substance abuse, which she says is more common in those who have been unhoused for several years.
