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County Releases 2019 Point of Time Count of Homeless Population in Santa Cruz County Santa Cruz Sentinel Reporter, Jessica York, is reporting that the Point in Time County numbers for Santa Cruz County have been preliminary released: You can read her article here In January 2017, volunteers led by Watsonville-based firm Applied Survey Research counted 2,249 homeless people. The 2019 Point in Time Count was 2,167. According to Santa Cruz County spokesman Jason Hoppin he said, “Although the numbers are down and that’s a nice thing to say, they’re not. We’ve seen a slight decrease and I don’t think anybody’s claiming victory, here,” “We hope it represents this turning point. We’re glad that we didn’t see some of the increases that we see in other communities. It’s obviously still a major issue of concern for the community and one that we continue to work on.” I find it interesting that while not every community in California is seeing their homeless populations increasing, the trend toward more homelessness and unsheltered people in California than the 2017 count is on an upward trajectory — this reflects a statewide problem where a more thorough policy planning discussion (melting homeless programs and wrap around services, drug and alcohol addiction, mental health and clear acceptance that the lack of housing options for the homeless and lower income working families) are part of the longer term conversation.The State Budget has more money earmarked for homeless services, programs, shelters, etc., so it will be critical that regardless of whether the Point in Time Count is lower than in 2017, the issue is magnified and more visual than past years. Here is a quick snapshot summary of state money directed to housing and homelessness: State Budget: Housing and Homelessness • $250 million: assisting local jurisdictions as they work through the 6th cycle of the Regional Housing Needs Assessment process • $500 million: housing-related infrastructure • $650 million: assist local governments in their efforts to address homelessness. (how and where that money will be directed is not certain at this time) • $500 million: mixed-income loan program through the California Housing Finance Agency • $500 million for an expanded state Low Income Housing Tax Credit program Take a look at these stats from a quick Point in Time Count search of California counties and cities: The Kern County Homeless Collaborative reports that 1,330 unduplicated homeless persons were counted countywide in shelters and on the streets during their annual Point in Time Homeless Count which occurred January 30 of this year. This is a 50% increase in number of persons counted from the 2018 Point in Time Homeless Count. The latest evidence of an increase in the area came last week, when several Bay Area cities and counties reported that their latest tallies of homeless people revealed big increases. San Francisco saw a 17% jump in the number of homeless residents over the last two years, according to preliminary results of the city’s point-in-time count. In January, volunteers recorded 8,011 homeless people living in shelters and on the streets in the city of roughly 880,000. Their 2017 count logged 6,858 people. In the south Bay Area, the number of homeless people living in Santa Clara County increased 31% over the last two years, from 7,394 to 9,706, according to preliminary results released by the county. San Jose saw a surge of 1,822 people, for a total of 6,172 homeless residents living in the county’s largest city. In the East Bay’s Alameda County, the numbers weren’t any better, with a 43% increase since 2017. The homeless population there numbers 8,022, of which 6,312 are unsheltered. people, for a total of 6,172 homeless residents living in the county’s largest city. Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties all recorded percent increases in homelessness in the double digits for 2019. San Diego Homeless count data collected by the county’s Regional Task Force on the Homeless shows there are 4,476 unsheltered people in the San Diego County, with 3,626 San Diegans classified as sheltered. The task force's 2019 Point-In-Time Count survey put the county's homeless population total at 8,102, down from both last year's observed total of 8,576 and the 2017 total of 9,116. Look at Santa Barbara County - while the number is down, like Santa Cruz County, the trend is steady (flat). The Santa Barbara County reported that count was at 1803 in 2019 down from 1860 in 2017. The homeless population count shows Ventura County’s total jumped by over 28 percent in 2019, compared to the previous year. That means at least 1,669 people in Ventura County spent the night of Jan. 21 on the streets, under freeway/bridge underpasses, in vehicles, in illegal encampments, in abandoned buildings, in shelters and at other places, compared to 1,299 in 2018. The number of people experiencing homelessness in Long Beach grew by about 2% since the city’s last point-in-time count in 2017, putting the city on a much different trajectory than the surrounding region, which has reported vastly larger population growths during the same time frame. According to figures released by Long Beach, the 2019 homeless count found 31 more people living on the streets or in some other non-permanent housing situation, an increase of about 2%. The total number of sheltered and unsheltered people rose from 1,863 in the 2017 count to 1,894 this year. Again according to Jason Hoppin in Santa Cruz County he stated, “About two-thirds of the state have released their numbers, so we thought that it was appropriate to get our number out there,” Hoppin said. “There’s a lot of statistical analysis that goes into these figures. So they have to verify all that kind of methodology. But I don’t think the city of Santa Cruz is going to change all that much from 2017.” Hoppin concluded. Of information released this week, more than 78 percent of those counted had no form of shelter, down from 80 percent in 2017. Those experiencing chronic homelessness dropped two-thirds, from about 600 to about 400 in the past two years, while veteran homelessness similarly decreased from about 236 to 150, Hoppin said. Youth and family homelessness, however, “showed slight increases.” The Ross Camp may have been an exception to the normal homeless problems we’ve seen in the past few years but it does show some glaring concerns about massing individuals in an unsanctioned location without any wrap around services available or perhaps even wanted by the campers. I believe this requires some deeper analysis to put a better story to the decreased number. The number that is most significant is not that we have a reported 82 less homeless people on the 2019 Point of Time Count but rather the per capita number of homeless (2,167) homeless population for a small county our size where we continue to seek short and long term solutions to this problem. One can hope that the infusion of state dollars earlier this year will help address our short term options and that the county can access its fair share of the homeless dollars in 2019-20 state budget.
County Releases 2019 Point of Time Count of Homeless Population in Santa Cruz County
Santa Cruz Sentinel Reporter, Jessica York, is reporting that the Point in Time County numbers for Santa Cruz County have been preliminary released: You can read her article here In January 2017, volunteers led by Watsonville-based firm Applied Survey Research counted 2,249 homeless people. The 2019 Point in Time Count was 2,167. According to Santa Cruz County spokesman Jason Hoppin he said, “Although the numbers are down and that’s a nice thing to say, they’re not. We’ve seen a slight decrease and I don’t think anybody’s claiming victory, here,” “We hope it represents this turning point. We’re glad that we didn’t see some of the increases that we see in other communities. It’s obviously still a major issue of concern for the community and one that we continue to work on.” I find it interesting that while not every community in California is seeing their homeless populations increasing, the trend toward more homelessness and unsheltered people in California than the 2017 count is on an upward trajectory — this reflects a statewide problem where a more thorough policy planning discussion (melting homeless programs and wrap around services, drug and alcohol addiction, mental health and clear acceptance that the lack of housing options for the homeless and lower income working families) are part of the longer term conversation.The State Budget has more money earmarked for homeless services, programs, shelters, etc., so it will be critical that regardless of whether the Point in Time Count is lower than in 2017, the issue is magnified and more visual than past years. Here is a quick snapshot summary of state money directed to housing and homelessness: State Budget: Housing and Homelessness • $250 million: assisting local jurisdictions as they work through the 6th cycle of the Regional Housing Needs Assessment process • $500 million: housing-related infrastructure • $650 million: assist local governments in their efforts to address homelessness. (how and where that money will be directed is not certain at this time) • $500 million: mixed-income loan program through the California Housing Finance Agency • $500 million for an expanded state Low Income Housing Tax Credit program Take a look at these stats from a quick Point in Time Count search of California counties and cities:
The Kern County Homeless Collaborative reports that 1,330 unduplicated homeless persons were counted countywide in shelters and on the streets during their annual Point in Time Homeless Count which occurred January 30 of this year. This is a 50% increase in number of persons counted from the 2018 Point in Time Homeless Count. The latest evidence of an increase in the area came last week, when several Bay Area cities and counties reported that their latest tallies of homeless people revealed big increases. San Francisco saw a 17% jump in the number of homeless residents over the last two years, according to preliminary results of the city’s point-in-time count. In January, volunteers recorded 8,011 homeless people living in shelters and on the streets in the city of roughly 880,000. Their 2017 count logged 6,858 people. In the south Bay Area, the number of homeless people living in Santa Clara County increased 31% over the last two years, from 7,394 to 9,706, according to preliminary results released by the county. San Jose saw a surge of 1,822 people, for a total of 6,172 homeless residents living in the county’s largest city. In the East Bay’s Alameda County, the numbers weren’t any better, with a 43% increase since 2017. The homeless population there numbers 8,022, of which 6,312 are unsheltered. people, for a total of 6,172 homeless residents living in the county’s largest city. Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties all recorded percent increases in homelessness in the double digits for 2019. San Diego Homeless count data collected by the county’s Regional Task Force on the Homeless shows there are 4,476 unsheltered people in the San Diego County, with 3,626 San Diegans classified as sheltered. The task force's 2019 Point-In-Time Count survey put the county's homeless population total at 8,102, down from both last year's observed total of 8,576 and the 2017 total of 9,116.
Look at Santa Barbara County - while the number is down, like Santa Cruz County, the trend is steady (flat). The Santa Barbara County reported that count was at 1803 in 2019 down from 1860 in 2017.
The homeless population count shows Ventura County’s total jumped by over 28 percent in 2019, compared to the previous year. That means at least 1,669 people in Ventura County spent the night of Jan. 21 on the streets, under freeway/bridge underpasses, in vehicles, in illegal encampments, in abandoned buildings, in shelters and at other places, compared to 1,299 in 2018.
The number of people experiencing homelessness in Long Beach grew by about 2% since the city’s last point-in-time count in 2017, putting the city on a much different trajectory than the surrounding region, which has reported vastly larger population growths during the same time frame. According to figures released by Long Beach, the 2019 homeless count found 31 more people living on the streets or in some other non-permanent housing situation, an increase of about 2%. The total number of sheltered and unsheltered people rose from 1,863 in the 2017 count to 1,894 this year.
Again according to Jason Hoppin in Santa Cruz County he stated, “About two-thirds of the state have released their numbers, so we thought that it was appropriate to get our number out there,” Hoppin said. “There’s a lot of statistical analysis that goes into these figures. So they have to verify all that kind of methodology. But I don’t think the city of Santa Cruz is going to change all that much from 2017.” Hoppin concluded. Of information released this week, more than 78 percent of those counted had no form of shelter, down from 80 percent in 2017. Those experiencing chronic homelessness dropped two-thirds, from about 600 to about 400 in the past two years, while veteran homelessness similarly decreased from about 236 to 150, Hoppin said. Youth and family homelessness, however, “showed slight increases.”
The Ross Camp may have been an exception to the normal homeless problems we’ve seen in the past few years but it does show some glaring concerns about massing individuals in an unsanctioned location without any wrap around services available or perhaps even wanted by the campers. I believe this requires some deeper analysis to put a better story to the decreased number.
The number that is most significant is not that we have a reported 82 less homeless people on the 2019 Point of Time Count but rather the per capita number of homeless (2,167) homeless population for a small county our size where we continue to seek short and long term solutions to this problem. One can hope that the infusion of state dollars earlier this year will help address our short term options and that the county can access its fair share of the homeless dollars in 2019-20 state budget.