Teri Hoggard recalls four Christmases she spent with friends during the years she didn't have a home to call her own. A series of mental and physical setbacks had left her without secure housing.
“It's uncomfortable because you really don't settle for a holiday," Hoggard said. “Then, there's also the family, the traditions that you once had and don't have.”
However, she has now spent just as many holidays in her subsidized downtown apartment, where a wreath adorns the door.
"For this Christmas, it's been a godsend," Hoggard said. "I get to enjoy my space. I get to have dinner with friends."
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In November — for the first time in 33 months — more San Diegans moved into housing than fell into homelessness, according to the Regional Task Force on Homelessness. Hoggard's rent is subsidized, as part of the San Diego Housing Commission's Housing Instability Prevention Program.
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"One of the things that I've learned is to appreciate the goodness of others," Hoggard said. “The gift I give to myself is knowing that I set up an apartment so that I would be able to go back to work and that I would be able to get healthier.”
However, she says she is coming up on the end of her two years in the program. During budget discussions last year, the Housing Commission was concerned about not being able to sustain the program at its current capacity. The mayor ultimately boosted the funding. The city council has already indicated the program is a priority heading into next year's challenging budget conversations.
Still, Hoggard does not know what next Christmas has in store.
"The hope of, I'd say, God, that we get what we looking for, which is a new home that is affordable,” Hoggard said. “Maybe in the future I could move closer to my family, which is all on the East Coast.”
For now, though, she is grateful for San Diego's whitecap Christmas and oceans that glisten, and the everyday miracle of having halls to deck that are all her own.
"It's sometimes very hard and humbling to be able to turn around and say thank you," she said. "I didn't think there was anybody out there that cared about me, but there are people that are out there to care about me."
