SAN DIEGO — The marine layer began to burn off Thursday morning at Waterfront Park in Downtown San Diego as a slight breeze cut through the heat and humidity that started to build.
With these conditions, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office HART team, its homeless outreach team, was out here offering a variety of resources to help the homeless in the area who are out in this heat.
“We are going around and contacting the unhoused individuals here at the park,” Deputy Ali Geber with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office HART Team said. “We're offering them resources. We're getting them connected to the RHAP program, which is the hotel voucher program. We're handing out water, and we are just making connections with the individuals here to try to get them out of this heat right now.”
Geber and a half dozen deputies with the team were out on the scheduled day at Waterfront Park amid this latest heat wave.
“I would say there probably has been a rise in the population coming down to the beach just because of the weather compared to more inland where it's getting hotter right now,” Geber said.
They’re offering things like water, Narcan, shelter options and help from social workers to the unhoused.
“No one wants to be sitting out in the weather. And so, when we do offer those programs and those resources, it is a good push just to help get them connected to those resources, especially in those high heat and high cold temperatures,” Geber said.
Still, some may only be ready for just a bottle of water at this point.
“It does help to build a rapport with the people that we contact. Sometimes it takes one visit, sometimes it takes several visits just to get them connected to the resources that they need,” Geber said.
Whether it’s high heat or perfect San Diego weather, take it from Tom, who's been homeless for 20 years; any little bit helps.
“It’s just the water. I mean, I know some people they drink, you know, they're always going through water and scrounging for water,” Tom said. “Going out and finding out and asking, you know. So, that's probably the big thing is just, you know, making the effort to at least.”
