26 Called Homeless in Santee, According to Latest Point-in-Time Count

Updated with remarks by Mayor Randy Voepel, April 10 @ 1:45 p.m.

26 people are homeless in Santee, including an estimated 16 in vehicles and two in hand-built structures- a 55 percent drop from last year, according to a .

The figure is from a Jan. 27 Point-in-Time Count by volunteers of the Regional Task Force on the Homeless (RTHF), which has conducted the tally since 2005.

Last year, by RTFH as living in the Santee area, and and fewer homeless reside in the city.

"Santee has ALWAYS had 12-15 homeless people (mostly in the River Bottom), this is . For you to raise our count to 58, either reflects poor counting methods or cheating. Change your count to reflect reality sir," Voepel wrote in a letter to RTFH.

, the Executive Director of RTFH, came to a city council meeting last year to defend the count and its methods and challenge Voepel to come along for the next count, and he .

"I am satisfied that the count was true and  accurate. I was surprised that the count was 26, which is high for Santee," said Voepel.

"There are definitely more homeless in town. I believe it reflects on the economic conditions of California and the nation. I was also surprised that many of the homeless were in their age 20's and 30's, I thought they would be older," he said.

Santee's 55 percent drop is in stark contrast to the 8.6 percent increase tallied countywide.

In San Diego County, 9,800 were counted as sheltered or unsheltered homeless—an 8.6 percent from the 2011 count of 9,020, the task force said last month.

Callstrom called this year’s count the most comprehensive since the inception of a federal mandate in 2005.

“What are the reasons for the countywide increase? Many factors contribute,” he said. “For one, we had 20 percent more volunteers than in 2011. This may account for some of the increase, but we also know that many more people are now homeless due to the economy, lack of affordable housing, and the myriad personal issues that contribute to homelessness.”

He said the January 27 census was not a definitive count or representation of all persons experiencing homelessness in our region, but was a “a snapshot of what we can best assess around the same time each year.”

The results enable the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to better understand the national scope and to allocate funding to address solutions, Callstrom said.

Homeless counts for other Patch communities:

• Carlsbad had 55, including an estimated four in vehicles and six in hand-built structures.
• Coronado had 36, including an estimated 32 in vehicles.
• Encinitas had 39, including an estimated 30 in vehicles and 10 in hand-built structures.
• La Mesa had 40, including an estimated 12 in vehicles.
• Lemon Grove had 24, including an estimated six in vehicles and 10 in hand-built structures.
• Oceanside had 481, including an estimated 68 in vehicles and 18 in hand-built structures.
• Poway had seven, with none seen living in cars.
• IB had 10.
• Spring Valley had 51, including an estimated 12 in vehicles and 18 in hand-built structures.