An Assessment of Service Awareness for the Unhoused Population in San Diego County

An Assessment of Service Awareness for the Unhoused Population in San Diego County | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article An Assessment of Service Awareness for the Unhoused Population in San Diego County Vanessa Guzman, Aidan Telfer-Radzat, Sean Pino This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6334581/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Homelessness presents a growing public health crisis in San Diego, where individuals face significant barriers to housing, healthcare, and essential services. This study assessed awareness, utilization, and barriers to accessing social support services among individuals experiencing homelessness in downtown San Diego, Ocean Beach, and Hillcrest. A verbally administered survey was conducted with 46 participants, collecting demographic information and data on awareness and use of housing, medical, legal, food, and hygiene resources. Results indicated high awareness of available services (93.5%), including housing (82.2%), legal aid (84.6%), and medical care (75.0%). Despite this, systemic barriers limited utilization, with safety concerns in shelters, poor hygiene conditions in mobile services, and lack of continuity in medical care frequently cited. Most participants (91.3%) had been homeless for over a year, and 41.5% identified unaffordable housing as the primary obstacle to securing stable shelter. While food assistance was widely used (95.5%), healthcare services were primarily accessed through emergency and one-time care, limiting continuity. Findings suggest that improving the safety, accessibility, and quality of existing services is necessary to enhance utilization. Future research should focus on addressing unmet needs, optimizing service delivery, and evaluating policy interventions to improve outcomes for individuals experiencing homelessness. Full Text Additional Declarations This study was reviewed and approved by the A.T. Still University – Arizona Institutional Review Board (ATSU-AZ IRB) and was granted exempt status in accordance with Federal regulations. Supplementary Files SYHGroupProjectPoster.pptx SanYsidroCommunityHealthProject.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6334581","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":442849305,"identity":"bcf537ef-4d0d-4387-9c0e-1efa0c899f4b","order_by":0,"name":"Vanessa Guzman","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA90lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYAgAGyjNRryWNAYeUrUcJqzF4PjZgw9//LFjkI9If7rh547z8vb8ZwwYPpQdxq3lTF6yMW9bMoPhjYS0m71nbhv2SOQYMM44h1uLZEOOmTRjAzOD4YyEYzd4224z9kjwGDDztuHR0v/G/OePP/VALYltN/+2nbPvATqM+S8eLfwSOWYMPGyHGeQlktlu87YdSOxhyDFgZsSr5Y2xNG/bcR4Dnmdst2XbkpN7bqQVHOw5l45TCxt/juHHH3+q5eTb05/dfNtmZ9vef3jjgx9l1ji1wACPwQEk3gEcqlCBfANRykbBKBgFo2AkAgB5D1QcrVQvwQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0101-9004","institution":"A T Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Vanessa","middleName":"","lastName":"Guzman","suffix":""},{"id":442849306,"identity":"181c9d7f-509d-444b-9ce1-68a0f974d4d6","order_by":1,"name":"Aidan Telfer-Radzat","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0006-6310-2532","institution":"A T Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Aidan","middleName":"","lastName":"Telfer-Radzat","suffix":""},{"id":442849307,"identity":"2dd0a1f6-717b-4078-9a83-ae13cdde815a","order_by":2,"name":"Sean Pino","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"A T Still University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sean","middleName":"","lastName":"Pino","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-03-29 14:12:33","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6334581/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6334581/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":81074633,"identity":"68508b5d-8712-4efe-906b-e66b17d99e81","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-04-22 02:54:41","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":312772,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"AssessmentofServiceAwarenessfortheUnhousedPopulation.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6334581/v1_covered_1e06a24c-0c74-4c7d-9211-bb2509037912.pdf"},{"id":81074631,"identity":"e5096f6b-e170-4641-8580-661a5f0d9b4f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-04-22 02:54:36","extension":"pptx","order_by":4,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":342534,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SYHGroupProjectPoster.pptx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6334581/v1/eb1e53f37fc5ecb9b4b8016b.pptx"},{"id":81074632,"identity":"b8b61926-1931-48ac-b755-14f2ed3178a9","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-04-22 02:54:36","extension":"pdf","order_by":5,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":44305,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SanYsidroCommunityHealthProject.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6334581/v1/da33f4ac24f5d78d04359fc8.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cp\u003eThis study was reviewed and approved by the A.T. 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