Martin Hoffman says he no longer feels safe dropping his 3-year-old son off at daycare in Rancho San Diego, after a person he believed to be homeless screamed, cursed and made threats near the property. Hoffman, who takes his son to Learning Jungle daycare inside the Rancho San Diego Shopping Center at the corner of Avocado Boulevard and State Route 94, says the frightening encounter is the latest sign of a worsening situation outside the school's doors.
Hoffman told NBC 7 San Diego that a person on the sidewalk near the daycare screamed, cursed and made threats, an incident that prompted him to contact both the San Diego County Sheriff's Department and the county fire department. He said he has also noticed a growing number of transients in the area in recent months, which he says has come with more trash accumulating nearby. Per Hoffman, human waste has remained in the parking lot for at least two weeks, and he says a sleeping bag was even found on the daycare's playground.
A Father's Growing Fear
Hoffman and his wife say they now worry about the health and safety of their son and the other children at the daycare, a concern that has only deepened as the encampment activity has persisted. He wants accountability and an answer from someone addressing the situation, and he told the station he hopes that bringing public attention to what's happening will finally push the responsible parties toward a resolution.
NBC 7 San Diego reported that it reached out to the daycare's regional director, the property owner, and the property's leasing agent for comment, but as of publication, none had responded. According to Hoffman, deputies with the Sheriff's Department and firefighters told him their hands were tied because the trash and encampments sit on private property rather than public land — a jurisdictional line that has repeatedly complicated enforcement efforts in the area.
Why Private Property Changes the Rules
That distinction matters under county policy. The San Diego County Sheriff's Office has said that deputies cannot cite individuals camping on public property unless a shelter bed is available, but private property owners can unlock stronger enforcement by signing formal trespass authorization orders that allow deputies to cite or arrest people trespassing on commercial land. Without that signed authorization from whoever controls the Rancho San Diego Shopping Center, deputies' options at the site Hoffman describes remain limited.
The Sheriff's Office has used that authority before in East County. In November 2025, its Homeless Assistance Resource Team, known as HART, ran a targeted operation in Spring Valley and Rancho San Diego after community complaints, resulting in five warrant arrests, 13 citations and public works cleanups of encampments found near dry brush. A similar sweep in neighboring Spring Valley in February 2025 also led to arrests specifically for trespassing on private property, underscoring how the same legal hurdle has shaped enforcement across the shared patrol area.
The Broader County Picture
The concerns in Rancho San Diego come even as countywide numbers point the other way. The 2026 Point-in-Time Count found 150 unsheltered individuals across unincorporated San Diego County, which includes Rancho San Diego, marking a 16% drop from 2025 and the lowest total in 13 years, according to the San Diego County News Center. Regionwide, the Regional Task Force on Homelessness reported unsheltered homelessness fell 11% to 5,108, even as overall homelessness dipped just 1% to 9,803 and sheltered populations grew 12%.
Those countywide declines haven't necessarily eased pressure on specific corridors like State Route 94. Caltrans removed 353 homeless encampments along state highway rights-of-way in San Diego County during the 2024-2025 fiscal year, a 27% jump from the year before, according to KPBS, with the SR-94 corridor among the areas affected. HART deputies have separately reported that roughly 90% of unsheltered individuals decline offers of shelter or social services when outreach teams make contact in the field.
Who Answers For What Happens Next
Rancho San Diego sits in unincorporated San Diego County within Supervisorial District 4, represented by Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe, whose portfolio includes countywide housing initiatives such as emergency temporary lodging and safe sleeping cabin programs. Because the community has no city council of its own, county-level policy and the Sheriff's Department enforcement carry outsized weight in how situations like the one outside Learning Jungle daycare get resolved. The county's Unsafe Camping Ordinance requires site assessments and a 72-hour notice to vacate before public encampments can be cleared, alongside offers of shelter resources — but that process applies to public land, not the private commercial lot where Hoffman says the trash and encampment activity have concentrated.
As of the NBC 7 report, the Sheriff's Department said it was working on the outlet's request for information and indicated it would provide an update. For now, Hoffman says he's left waiting for someone with authority over the shopping center or its tenants to step in, while he weighs whether it's still safe to leave his son at the daycare he once trusted without hesitation.
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