Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, November 6, 2026 – Residents and merchants report a growing number of homeless people in central Puerto Vallarta, with an estimated 100 now sleeping on the streets.
The figure is a neighborhood estimate, not a new municipal census. The earlier records cover different areas and periods, so they don’t show that the number of homeless people has doubled.
The real issue for the people sleeping outside and for the neighbors who are going to the authorities is what help can PV actually offer other than just moving them to another street?
Complaints across central neighborhoods
Tribuna’s report identifies Centro, Emiliano Zapata and 5 de Diciembre as the main areas generating the complaints. People are sleeping on sidewalks, beaches, and benches (including the Malecón extension behind the Naval Museum), and on streets such as Mina, Hidalgo, Galeana, and Iturbide.
The outlet says residents and businesses are complaining to the police about sanitation issues and threatening behavior from some people. It also describes a rather rudimentary camp on the Cuale River island. The complaints don’t establish how widespread such behavior is among the homeless population.
Separately, other reports describe people taking shelter under bridges, with residents and various community groups voicing concerns about river levels, the volume of passing traffic, and the combustible nature of the bedding. They were calling for shelter, medical aid, and intervention in the public realm.
The figures do not measure the same thing
The older figure for comparison comes from a July 2024 report quoting then DIF director Jorge Armando Escobell Fernández. He said the municipal family assistance agency had 51 people on its books: 47 men and 4 women.
A separate shelter proposal put in by Councilor Luis Jesús Escoto Martínez on 27 March 2025 referenced a total of 200 people along the tourist strip, the residential areas, Las Juntas, Ixtapa, the Cuale Riverbank, and the Barrio Santa María canal.
That proposal didn’t specify the count date or methodology. You can’t derive a reliable growth rate by comparing those broad figures against the residents’ current downtown estimate.
The issues themselves have a longer pedigree. The Vallarta Daily’s June 2024 piece on the problems in the historic centre also mentioned homelessness as one of the problems facing the downtown area.
A shelter has been proposed
Escoto’s March 2025 initiative was to find a building for a temporary shelter, work out the cost of equipping and running it, and then develop a joint program with DIF, social development, health, and addiction prevention staff.
The proposal was returned to the council’s December 1, 2025 agenda, with a request that municipal property officials identify suitable buildings and report back at the next ordinary session.
The records relate to the attempts to set up a shelter. They don’t confirm the existence of an operational facility, its capacity, or a date on which it would have opened. A functioning shelter would require both a building and the staffing and operating funds that underpinned the original proposal.
DIF assistance offers a point of contact
DIF has described a pathway to assistance through its Comedores Dignos program, Meridiano Vallarta, which provides daily breakfast, as well as social support and guidance through its social work department, to people who are homeless or in a temporary situation of hardship.
“They treat you like a real human being,” said beneficiary Oscar Díaz in the agency’s statement (translated from Spanish).
In another account, DIF described helping Gonzalo Urzúa re-establish contact with his family after 18 years without a home. The agency’s assistance also includes interviews to identify individual needs, help with paperwork, employment referrals, and clothing and hygiene items.
These services help assess a person’s situation, though the program descriptions don’t necessarily indicate that overnight accommodation is available. If a resident requires a social work referral, they can contact DIF on 322 225 9936. The agency’s office is at Avenida Las Palmas 105, Barrio Santa María.
