SAN DIEGO — San Diego County leaders are mulling a new strategy to track San Diego's homeless population.
Tuesday morning, San Diego County's Board of Supervisors will consider a plan that would keep track of homeless people by name, to help streamline the services they receive and hopefully find them housing more efficiently.
This proposal to track homeless San Diegans by their names is already successfully being used here in the county to specifically track veterans, as well as homeless youth.
Both groups have seen reductions in their numbers in the latest homeless count, and the hope is that this strategy can be applied to the larger population.
"It's actually a more personal way of serving the homeless people," said County Supervisor Jim Desmond.
The idea here would be to create a more comprehensive county-wide list of all homeless people, to help better coordinate resources and services to help get them off the street.
Along with names, it would also keep track of medical and mental health diagnoses and treatment.
"What we want to do is not duplicate efforts all over the county," Desmond told CBS 8, "It would also help us to find out if programs are successful or not."
Desmond added that, often, a homeless person moves from one part of the county to another.
This 'By-Name List' would help different service providers quickly access their record without having to spend time and energy doing a new assessment from scratch.
Desmond also stressed that this information would be kept confidential, and would require homeless clients to agree to be part of this list.
"This would provide more data and information, and it's kind of surprising we don't already have something like this," he said.
"There are some benefits, and some challenges," said homeless advocate Michael McConnell pointed out that this program has been successful in bringing down homeless numbers, especially among veterans, in other parts of the country.
He added that it is critical to make sure the data it provides is used pro-actively to help those who are trying to get off the streets.
"If this is just another list that is going to sit on a shelf and it's not going to get anyone house, then why do it?" he told CBS 8.
There are still several questions to be answered, including how much this new program would cost and exactly how it would operate.
If the Board of Supervisors gives the green light on Tuesday, county staff would be given time to develop a proposal over the next 90 days.
"The more contact we have with someone, hopefully the sooner they'll get into programs, the sooner they'll accept help, and we can help get them off the streets and into housing," Desmond added.
The Board of Supervisors meeting gets underway at 9 a.m. at the County Administration Building. For more information, click here.
WATCH RELATED: Growing homeless camp at park near Harborside Elementary sparks concern from parents (Aug. 2022)