It’s 6:28 a.m. and it’s quiet in Pacific Beach.

There’s a chill in the air left over by the overnight marine layer. Streetlights are all that illuminate the streets.

In those waking hours, behind St. Andrew’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, five people gather and don neon green vests.

They’re ready to pile into the warmth of the truck. But before they can do that, they load up trash cans on wheels, garbage grabber tools, trash bags and brooms.

Louisa Gutierrez has dreams of working in healthcare again.

Tristan Amory looks forward to his upcoming chess match at the public library.

Within days, Jessica Guzman will sell crocheted items she has made at her first market booth, an early step for her crocheting business.

Tristan Amory, crew manager Nicole Mizzi, Jessica Guzman, Louisa Gutierrez and case manager Meaghan McCarthy after a three-hour early morning clean-up shift with the Clean and Safe Program in Pacific Beach on Oct. 23. (Elaine Alfaro)

They, along with a crew coordinator and a case manager from Shoreline Community Services, started their shift at 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 23. Until 9:30 a.m., they cleaned the streets of Pacific Beach — on Hornblend to the boardwalk and all the way from Mission to Cass Street.

What they all have in common is the Compass Station, a resource center for people experiencing homelessness at 1004 Chalcedony Street. It’s operated by Shoreline Community Services.

According to the 2024 point in time count from San Diego’s Regional Leader on Homelessness, there has been a 3% increase in homelessness across the county since 2023.

For the unhoused living in Pacific Beach, the Compass Station has become a space individuals can turn to for support and services. The Clean and Safe Program offers a chance for people to work and receive advising sessions to help them get off the streets.

“When they come to us looking for employment, they aren’t just looking for a job,” said Caryn Blanton, Shoreline Community Services’ executive director. “They’re looking for help to get off the street, so this is kind of a package that we’re looking at.”

Employees work four days a week, three hours a shift. The job entails street cleaning, sidewalk cleaning, graffiti removal and trash removal in the heart of Pacific Beach. The program also has contracts with other businesses, but the Clean and Safe Program focuses on the streets of PB. It is a collaboration between Shoreline Community Services and DiscoverPB, the local business improvement district.

As part of the program, employees meet with a case manager for one hour once a week to set short-term and long-term goals. If they make it through the first 30 days of the job, at the end of their 30 days they get a gym membership with opportunities for raises and bonuses following quickly after.

“It’s a win-win program,” Blanton said. “We’re putting people to work who need the work, getting them on a track to something permanent and long lasting and the community looks better.”

The program currently employs six people, including Guzman. She’s been part of the program since February.

Jessica Guzman picking up trash along Pacific Beach’s boardwalk. (Elaine Alfaro)

Guzman knows the walking route of her shift from drop off to pick up, and all of the little details in between. She’s originally from New York.

“I don’t think I ever paid attention to the birds out there,” Guzman said.

Now, in this role, she hears them and sees them on each of her shifts. Nature is one of the spaces that has helped her through her experience of being unhoused.

Over the course of the three-hour shift, she spoke of how she lost her job of 14 years during the height of COVID-19. She worked as a medical assistant.

“From there, it trickled down — snowball effect,” Guzman said. “I kind of lost everything. I lost my place.”

She spoke of her move from New York to Georgia to South Carolina to Arizona and eventually California.

“I didn’t know anybody here, and it was just me and my son,” Guzman said. “We were in Chula Vista for a little while.”

They lived in her car and initially received support from People Assisting the Homeless (PATH). After moving to the Pacific Beach area, Guzman heard about the Clean and Safe Program.

“When I got here, they were asking, ‘What is it that I really want to do?’” Guzman said. “The only thing right now, not only does it help me mentally but it brings me joy and peace, is crochet. So, Caryn had plugged me in with the Women’s Business Center, and they became my mentors in helping me start my business.”

With the sound of her broom sweeping alongside her words, she spoke of her son and his near-completion of a culinary school program. She spoke of the first market where she plans to sell her crocheted goods.

Jessica Guzman sweeping up trash and leaves from a sidewalk in Pacific Beach. (Elaine Alfaro)

“Because he’s so close to the end and finishing the program, it’s just like were both almost in the same (situation),” Guzman said. “This week Im actually promoting my stuff and hes doing his part. Were just in a better headspace.”

She told tales about her Corolla, which she affectionately calls her 17-year-old “baby.” It’s been through expired registration and dead batteries.

Along the way, she walked through her process of sweeping leaves and tying up full trash bags. She shared her current efforts of writing and drafting a book about her experiences being unhoused.

“I want to talk about it. I want to write it out. I want people to see its not just one way,” Guzman said. “A lot of people look at homeless people as like, were at the bottom of the lot.

“They look at us like we all have issues, we all have a drug problem, we all have an alcohol problem, we all have mental issues,” Guzman said. “The average person is literally two paychecks away from being in the same position. Some people are addicted to drugs. Some people do have mental issues. Some people do have alcohol problems, but its not all.”

She also spoke of what continues to bring her hope.

“I think one of the biggest things is to know Im not alone,” Guzman said. “I dont feel like Im in the dark, sunken place and I dont feel totally abandoned.”

Her three-hour shift came to a close and she met up with the other employees who took other segments of the streets. On this day, they averaged four to five bags of trash on their walking route.

Louisa Gutierrez and Tristan Amory disposing of the filled trash bags at the conclusion of their three-hour work shift with the Clean and Safe Program in Pacific Beach. (Elaine Alfaro)

Amory and case manager Meaghan McCarthy picked them up at their meeting spot.

“Thud thud,” the trashbags landed in the truck bed and they made their way to the dumpsters back over by the church.

Gutierrez assisted Amory unload the bags. Gutierrez is going on her eighth month in the program. She and her husband have been unhoused for about a year and a half. She says they were wrongfully evicted.

“We were staying in hotels, but then that got too costly,” Gutierrez said. “We went to the campgrounds, but then they have a time limit. We were staying in the car, but then it got towed. You dont have an income and the tow trucks are super pricey.”

Gutierrez also worked in the medical field before she became unhoused.

“I want to go back to doing that because I miss being around patients and just having that relationship with them,” Gutierrez said.

Until then, she said her plan is to get back on track through this program.

“With the help they have available, you’re able to make that final reach to the end goal, which is being off the streets, being indoors, having a stable job,” Gutierrez said.

Clean and Safe crew manager Nicole Mizzi said turnover can be high in this program.

Since its inception in July 2023, it has employed 34 unhoused Pacific Beach residents — not all have completed their contracts.

“Seeing people grow from when they come in and where they go, not everyone graduates, but I feel like even if they dont graduate the program theyre in a better position when they leave,” Mizzi said.

Back at the church, the crew peels off their green vests and part ways. Gutierrez gets a ride from McCarthy. Amory and Mizzi laugh over a lost item that was found. The sun is fully up now and the chill of the morning has dissipated.

Guzman said she is excited for the market coming up in two days. There’s a mix of nerves and anticipation, but she said she’s the happiest she’s ever been in her life, even though it’s not all figured out.

“I had the house, I had the car, the dog, the cat, the dream that they sell you. I had money in the bank. I had a rainy day savings. I had all of it. But literally in a blink of an eye,” Guzman trailed off.

She’s expectant of what’s on the horizon because, in addition to her son, there’s something that keeps her set on the future.

“Do something that you love. Do something that you enjoy. Then, it doesnt feel like work, right?” Guzman said.

To learn more about the Clean and Safe Program, visit pacificbeach.org/clean-and-safe.