SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – We're getting an early look at some of the data from this year's Point In Time Count.
"We've been seeing in the last year that it feels like there are fewer people in the riverbed,” Sarah Hutmatcher of the San Diego Riverpark Foundation said. "It's really great to be able to confirm it and to be honest, a little surprising even that it was even so low."
Hutmatcher and her organization recently took part in this year's Point In Time Count, an annual snapshot of how things are looking with the homelessness crisis in San Diego County.
"We were super excited this year to be able to say that there were under 150 people in the riverbed,” Hutmatcher said.
148 people were counted in San Diego and in Santee specifically, according to Hutmatcher.
To put things in perspective, the San Diego River Park Foundation counted more than 290 people living along the Riverbed with last year's Point In Time Count. That's a 50 percent drop from last year to this year's count.
The Point In Time Count is a one-day count in January.
However, the foundation conducts seasonal censuses of those living along the riverbed.
"So when we counted in the fall in September of 2025, we counted 294 people living in the San Diego Riverbed, and now we're seeing 148. So that's a huge impact and a huge, you know, break for the river, which is really not a place that's meant to be meant for human habitation,” Hutmatcher said.
ABC 10News has covered the efforts to help those who are staying along the riverbed, the clearing of encampments there, and people getting placed into housing as well.
"When I first got the numbers, I wanted to do the Irish jig,” Ketra Carter, the Program Manager for the City of San Diego’s Homelessness Strategies & Solutions Department, said.
While Carter couldn't speak to the River Park Foundation's numbers, she felt that all of the money and efforts put into the riverbed were a reason for the reduction.
"Not only were we able to utilize this money to facilitate temporary lodging and temporary stays, supportive services in connection to other services for self-sufficiency, we were able to get them housed into what is permanent stability,” Carter said.
Hutmatcher felt that effort is making a difference as well.
"I think the last 18 months has been a lot of that work of, you know, making contacts and talking to people and finding them alternative places to stay,” Hutmatcher said.
While the entire Point In Time Count data isn't expected until this spring, there’s reason for optimism with these numbers.
"I hope that the San Diego Riverbed going down is representative of what's happening in the rest of the county. I think it's hard to say, you know, because people who are living in the riverbed are hopefully not just moving to other parts of the county, they're moving into housing,” Hutmatcher said.
If you're interested in joining the River Park Foundation on its next census, you can register here.
