SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KGTV) — Nearly 600 homeless died on the streets of San Diego last year according to a report from the Regional Task Force on Homelessness.
“It’s heartbreaking…it’s heartbreaking. People do not need to die on the streets of San Diego,” said Rachel Hayes, who successfully transitioned out of homelessness this year after more than a decade living on the streets.
“I still have problems sleeping at night,” said Rachel. “I’m still healing from it. The trauma. It doesn’t go away overnight.”
She says included in that trauma: the loss of close friends who died while experiencing homelessness alongside her.
“My best friend died. During the coronavirus he had respiratory failure and they found him at St. Vinnie’s in the bathroom. That was one of the hardest hits.”
This week Rachel joined community leaders gathering outside the County Administration Building for ‘World Homeless Day” to honor homeless lives lost here at home.
“My speech was about…it’s not just a homeless crisis, it’s a housing crisis,” she said.
Rachel now spends her time doing homeless outreach and advocating for more housing which she says is the root of the problem.
“You spend 30 days going to HRC being told ‘no shelter bed, no shelter bed, no shelter bed’ you get tired. The streets wear people down,” she said.
“They want to say it’s about the drugs and mental illness…but if we had those services to provide for these people when they were ready for it…those deaths could have been prevented.”
