San Diego County supervisors on Tuesday will weigh a plan to steer $1.1 million into a regional homeless diversion fund, a move county officials say could grow to roughly $2 million with help from private donors and keep about 600 households from falling into or staying in homelessness. The proposal would lock in a single-source contract with the San Diego Housing Commission to run the program and reserve about one third of county dollars for residents in unincorporated areas. The item lands on the Board of Supervisors’ regular meeting agenda.
The board letter, authored by Supervisors Joel Anderson and Terra Lawson-Remer, calls for shifting $1.1 million out of the county’s Building Partnerships Program to seed a second round of the regional Homeless Diversion Fund. With expected philanthropic matches, county staff say the pot could reach about $2 million and touch roughly 600 households. The proposal would authorize a single-source contract with the San Diego Housing Commission to oversee the program and have the agency coordinate with about 20 service providers to train frontline workers on diversion techniques. One third of the county allocation would be carved out for people in unincorporated communities, and staff say the change would not add general fund costs or new county positions, as outlined in the San Diego County board letter.
Recent data gives supervisors some reason to think this approach might help bend the curve. County figures and the 2025 point-in-time count show homelessness in the region down about 7 percent, to 9,905 people, and monthly housing flow numbers suggest the region is now placing slightly more people into housing than are newly becoming homeless. “An average of 1,187 people per month are getting housed, against 1,089 falling into homelessness for the first time,” the supervisors’ offices wrote. Anderson said the letter “is about lifting people in our community” in an emailed statement to City News Service, according to KPBS.
How diversion works
Diversion is a crisis-moment tactic that pairs short-term, flexible financial help, such as security deposits, moving expenses, and brief rental assistance, with focused problem-solving casework. The goal is to keep people housed or quickly re-housed without sending them into an already strained shelter system.
County materials say the first regional diversion fund, launched in 2023, reached nearly 600 people across 489 households. According to the board letter, 96 percent of those households were still stably housed after 12 months, at an average one-time cost of about $3,150 per household, a fraction of what multi-month shelter stays typically run. Hoodline previously reported on the program's early success in 2025. The Regional Task Force on Homelessness and the San Diego Housing Commission provide diversion training and technical support for providers, and the Housing Commission would track outcomes through the Homeless Management Information System, along with six-month and one-year follow-ups, according to the Regional Task Force on Homelessness.
Funding and partners
The new round of money would come from leftover dollars in the Building Partnerships Program, a funding pool the county previously tapped to buy sleeping cabins that have otherwise drawn limited community interest. Philanthropic partners listed in the board materials, including the San Diego Foundation, Prebys, the Cushman Foundation and the Jewish Community Foundation, have signaled they are open to co-investing. If those commitments land, the county expects the total diversion fund could approach $2 million, according to KPBS.
What’s next
The diversion item is No. 15 on Tuesday’s agenda. The Board of Supervisors meets in the morning at the County Administration Center board chamber, 1600 Pacific Highway, Room 310. If the contract gets the green light, the San Diego Housing Commission would run the program under a one-year agreement with option periods and report results back to the county, while diversion efforts are expected to help free up shelter beds for people with the highest needs.
Details on the agenda, how to watch the meeting and how to submit public comment are available on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors site.
