The homeless declaration signed at the annual San Diego Mayors Symposium—hosted by the San Diego Rescue Mission at the Lomas Santa Fe Country Club in Solana Beach—is a multi-city accord in which regional mayors and county leaders formally pledge a unified, cross-jurisdictional strategy to address homelessness.

Key aspects of the declaration include:

1. Framework of the Declaration

• Regional Unity & Shared Responsibility: The core agreement operates on the premise that homelessness is a regional crisis without fixed municipal borders. Leaders commit to aligning policy, outreach, and funding rather than pushing unsheltered individuals across neighboring city lines.
• Annual Renewal: First initiated as a joint commitment in 2023–2024 (which established a regional working task force), the declaration is formally reaffirmed each year at the symposium. It acts as a pact for city executives—spanning all 18 municipalities in San Diego County—to regularly share data, evaluate pilot programs, and coordinate emergency housing capacity.

2. Core Pillars & Action Objectives

• Interoperable Shelter Tracking: Synchronizing regional real-time tools (such as the “Shelter-Ready” tracking applications) to map available emergency beds across cities in real time.
• Coordinated Street Outreach: Standardizing specialized outreach teams deployed across overlapping municipal borders (e.g., expanding street teams across North County, East County, and coastal districts).
• Public-Private Partnerships: Engaging non-profit providers, philanthropic funds, and tribal leadership (such as the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians) to finance performance-based shelter expansions and transitional programs outside standard municipal budgets.
• Addressing High-Risk Subpopulations: Focusing joint resources on critical emerging gaps identified in the annual Point-in-Time counts—particularly rising senior homelessness and transitional youth housing.