The Neil Good Day Center provides restrooms, a place to rest and other services for homeless people. Beginning Monday, hours will be cut and it will close on weekends.
SAN DIEGO
Boss Baby squirmed in the arms of her owner Wednesday morning, anxious about the veterinarian approaching her with a needle.
She yelped at the jab, and Marie Hickerson held her tighter to let her know it would be OK.
“She’s my soul,” she said about her Chihuahua. “My clarity. My serenity.”
Hickerson and her fiancé Paul Louderback have been homeless for the past couple of years and are living in a tent on National Avenue in downtown San Diego. Louderback said having Boss Baby and her puppy, Bear, around helps with the ordeal they face day to day.
It’s hard to miss.
Along city sidewalks in downtown San Diego, in front of malls in Oceanside, sprawled across open areas near South Bay freeway on-ramps, homeless encampments have become a more frequent sight throughout San Diego County in recent months.
Why there are more, or even if the large encampments mean the homeless population itself has increased, is unclear.
The numbers of people on the street could be greater because fewer people have been arrested and jailed for minor offenses during the pandemic. Or maybe people from other states are moving to San Diego after hearing about shelters and services here.