To show the magnitude of the growing homeless problem in San Diego County, Father Joe’s Villageson Tuesday set up a temporary “sea of shoes” on 16th Street and Newton Avenue.
Each pair of tennis shoes, sandals, combat boots and high heals in the block-long display represented the 8,700 homeless men, women and children on the streets, said Jim Vargas, president and CEO of the homeless services organization.
San Diego’s homeless population increased nearly 3 percent over last year, according to theannual count by the Regional Task Force on the Homeless. The region has the fifth largest homeless population in the nation, and the third largest number of homeless veterans.
The growing population is flocking to shelters, including the Village, which provides refuge to 1,000 people every night and prepares 3,000 meals each day.
Vargas said the display of shoes, in various styles and sizes, brings the vastness of the problem to life.
[For more of this story, written by Susan Murphy, go to http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/...esent-san-diego-cou/]
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