S.J. officials assessing homeless count

STOCKTON — While homeless advocates concluded the every-two-year point-in-time survey across San Joaquin County last week, officials said this week final numbers will not be made available until at least April.

Bill Mendelson, executive director of the Central Valley Low Income Housing Corporation, said his staff and volunteers must double check each individual’s homeless situation.

Mendelson’s organization has been the lead agency on the count over the years.

“The count takes place in two ways,” he said. “There’s a count of people in shelters or transitional housing, and a count of the unsheltered folks. Before we release any numbers, we have to go through and figure out who was on the street and not in a shelter, or who was staying with friends and family at the time we were out there.”

Mendelson said that process has just begun. Because some homeless move from shelter to street, it is difficult to track exactly who was where when volunteers were conducting the survey, he said.

“During our interviews, we’d go out to a campsite and see a bunch of tents, but there wouldn’t be anybody there,” he said. “So we’re going to have to go back and figure out how many people there were to a tent.”

While he could not provide definite numbers, Mendelson said he has seen some growth over the years in the number of unsheltered homeless people in the county. It is unclear exactly what has caused the increase in unsheltered homeless, he said.

The point-in-time survey is designed to give the Department of Housing and Urban Development a snapshot of homeless conditions at the local level, with the hope that the federal government will provide resources and funding to help reduce or even eliminate the problem.

The 2015 survey counted 515 homeless adults and 26 homeless children in San Joaquin County, according to record archives.

This year’s survey began on Jan. 23 in Tracy, and moved daily to Stockton, Lodi and Manteca, Mendelson said.

He and his staff were joined by volunteers from community churches and resource centers in each community to conduct the survey.