SAN DIEGO — More people are living along the San Diego River since the City of San Diego's encampment ban took effect.
That’s according to data collected by the San Diego River Park Foundation.
Before the encampment ban, they counted about 90 encampments. Now, there are 124.
"Over the course of this last year, the numbers have been creeping up slowly,” said Sarah Hutmacher, Chief Operating Officer of the San Diego River Park Foundation.
Hutmacher is often out walking along the river, cleaning up trash, educating the public and talking with those experiencing homelessness.
"We envision a better future for the San Diego river," she said.
A future that could be in jeopardy as more and more people move in.
Hutmacher and her team have collected data along the San Diego river for years from Santee, all the way to the ocean. The recent increase represents a 30% jump compared to just five months ago, before the city’s encampment ban went into effect.
“This isn't the first time that we have seen a change in the number of encampments in the riverbed around the same timing as a change in enforcement or other patterns in other parts of the city. We've seen an uptick in encampments around the All-Star game in 2016. We saw an uptick in encampments around a Hep-A outbreak in 2017. I think that what it really shows is that this is just a super related system when there's enforcement in some areas that has impacts on other areas," said Hutmacher.
Despite the increase, Hutmacher says the foundation can't make a direct connection between the two, since people call the area home for various reasons.
But, CBS 8 did speak to a man named Chase who says the encampment ban is one of the main reasons he lives along the riverbed.
“I prefer to be down here because the cops aren't gonna come down here and like write me a citation. I've seen people come here daily, more and more each day," he said.
Hutmacher says it's a concern for several reasons.
For starters, it's not a safe place for people to live, especially when it rains.
There's also a host of other issues including added pollution and fire danger.
On Jan. 25, the San Diego River Park Foundation will lead a group of volunteers to get up to date numbers as part of the annual ‘Point In Time’ count.
The federally mandated census will cover the entire county, and is designed to quantify the overall homeless population to secure funding and understand what the needs are.
"It's important for us to make sure that these areas of the riverbed are part of the conversation when the when folks are making investments in providing resources and housing."
Volunteers are needed countywide. If you'd like to volunteer, click here.
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