Kennedy was photographed Wednesday, August 12, outside the AC Hotel by Marriott in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter. The sighting quickly made its way to Reddit, where a post titled “Spotted RFK Jr. in the Gaslamp” generated hundreds of votes and a torrent of comments, the overwhelming majority sharply critical of the controversial cabinet secretary.
The downtown appearance was not simply a vacation stop. Kennedy was in San Diego alongside U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner and White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Sara Carter to announce a new federal “Treatment First” approach to homelessness and addiction.
The announcement took place at the San Diego Rescue Mission and centered around the release of the Best Practices Toolkit: Addressing Homelessness and Addiction through “Treatment First,” a 40-page federal document released this month by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration under HHS.
The initiative represents a significant shift in the Trump administration's approach to homelessness. The toolkit explicitly criticizes “Housing First,” arguing that providing housing without sufficiently integrating addiction treatment and recovery services has failed to produce long-term recovery and self-sufficiency for many people experiencing homelessness. Instead, the administration is promoting a model that prioritizes treatment and recovery services alongside housing.
Under the “Treatment First” framework, success would be measured not merely by whether someone receives services or housing, but by longer-term outcomes including sustained abstinence from drugs, improved mental health, stable housing, employment, social connectedness and reintegration with family and the community.
The administration's 2026 National Drug Control Strategy similarly calls for shifting federal homelessness policy toward treatment-focused programs and describes participation in treatment and recovery services as a condition of receiving certain taxpayer-funded housing assistance.
The newly released toolkit proposes a continuum beginning with crisis intervention and stabilization before progressing through treatment, early recovery and ultimately what it calls “thriving,” defined by self-sufficiency, stable housing, meaningful employment and a supportive social network.
Among its recommendations are substance-free living environments, phased housing, peer recovery specialists, job training, structured daily routines, faith-based support when appropriate, and closer coordination among healthcare providers, law enforcement, courts, shelters and community organizations.
San Diego itself appears in the toolkit. East County Transitional Living Center is highlighted as an example of a program that treats substance-use and mental-health care as early steps in recovery while using therapeutic work assignments to help participants develop practical skills and employment histories.
Kennedy's Gaslamp sighting nevertheless generated nearly as much immediate attention online as his official visit. The Reddit discussion attracted hundreds of reactions within hours, with commenters debating Kennedy, the Trump administration and California politics, while others made jokes referencing controversies and unusual stories that have followed Kennedy in recent years.
Kennedy has previously made high-profile appearances in San Diego. In May 2023, while running for president as a Democrat before later becoming an independent candidate and ultimately joining the Trump administration, Kennedy addressed hundreds of supporters at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay on Shelter Island.
His latest San Diego visit comes in a dramatically different capacity: as the nation's top federal health official and one of the public faces of an administration attempting to reshape federal policy on homelessness, addiction and public health.
Originally published on August 12, 2026.
