Volunteers to survey homeless
Organizer hopes for good turnout
LAKE COUNTY >> Next week, dozens of volunteers will fan out across Lake County to strike up conversations with those living without a roof over their heads. They’ll be wearing lanyards to identify themselves and offering bags filled with flashlights, hand warmers, band aids and more.
Working to complete the 2020 Lake County Point-In-Time Count—a program organized by the public health partnership Lake County Continuum of Care—these volunteers will ask their subjects a series of survey questions, tallying up demographical information about the county’s homeless.
PIT counts that satisfy certain federal guidelines formulated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development help maintain grant funding opportunities from that agency. In fact, HUD states that it “requires that communities receiving federal funds from the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants program conduct a count of all sheltered people in the last week of January annually.”
The PIT count also opens up a funding source at the state level, through the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
In the past several years, the total homeless population as tallied by Lake County PIT counts has fluctuated. In 2019, 372 people experiencing homelessness were counted—down from 612 in 2018. The 2017 total was comparable to last year’s. The number of homeless persons counted is important because, as Rev. Shannon KimballAuth, who coordinates the local homeless care program Project Restoration, said last year, it determines how much funding HUD will give to the area.
“The HUD dollars that come down through the non-competitive process are based on your (homeless) population,” she said. “That means in general, what we as a CoC are going to be able to apply for (will go down).”
PIT Count Chairperson Jordan O’Halloran said she hopes the numbers from this year’s count will be a good representation of the extent of homelessness in the county.
“The goal of the count is to get as many people as possible so we can receive funding for more affordable housing programs for people who are experiencing homelessness in Lake County,” O’Halloran said. “I’m very hopeful that the number will be better this year.”
To increase the likelihood of a higher count, O’Halloran and others involved in the count have changed a few things about this year’s operation.
PIT volunteers will now gather in seven locations around Lake County, she said—an increase from last year.
Also, the lanyards that will be worn by count volunteers have been chosen to replace the fluorescent-colored vests worn in previous years. Their more plainclothes appearance should “make people look more approachable,” said O’Halloran.
According to Lake CoC members at a meeting last year, local law enforcement had rousted the homeless in Lakeport and Clearlake just a few weeks prior to the count, potentially creating a false appearance of scarcity in those locales.
But this year, O’Halloran said she and CoC Chair Chris Taliaferro spoke to the Lake County Board of Supervisors about the issue, and hope they will not run into the same problem again. “(The BOS) seemed on board with us,” O’Halloran said. “I am certain that everyone is aware of what we’re doing.”
Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen on Wednesday said his department has not performed any disbursements at homeless encampments for “months,” adding that no such operations are planned in the next few weeks.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Department and the Clearlake Police Department could not be reached
Wednesday for comment.
People experiencing homelessness who participate in this year’s count will also be able to receive free flu shots through a new partnership, O’Halloran added. She hopes this will be another incentive to take part in the count.
Would-be volunteers can still sign up, O’Halloran said. For more information, send an email to johalloran@ncoinc.org.
The count will take place on Jan. 27 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Volunteers can participate in full-day or half-day shifts. Meeting places for the count are as follows:
Clearlake: La Voz de la Esperanza Centro Latino. Clearlake Oaks: Big Oak Peer Support Center. Kelseyville: Lake Family Resource Center. Lakeport: Lake County Veterans Services. Lucerne: The Snake Lady Motorcycle Café, 6278 Highway 20. Upper Lake: Upper Lake Senior Center. Middletown: United Methodist Church.
A care bag packing event will occur tomorrow, Jan. 24, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (at Redwood Community Services, 150 S. Main St., Lakeport) in preparation for the count.