More homeless people counted in 2022, but more in shelters, fewer on streets
Official says results of survey show recent investments in housing, services are paying off
The number of homeless people in Riverside County grew 15% from two years ago, but more are living in shelters and fewer are on the streets, an annual survey found.
It's the first time in six years the county has seen a drop in the number of homeless people not living in shelters, a county news release states.
The 2022 point-in-time count shows that recent investments in homeless services are working, the head of the county Housing and Workforce Solutions department told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
“It is a sign that our county system of care is doing the job that it was meant to do,” Heidi Marshall said. “… We're not anywhere near the finish line. But I do believe that based on these statistics, that we are headed in the right direction.”
The federal government requires the county to count its sheltered homeless population every year and its unsheltered population every two years. For one day in January — a coronavirus surge pushed back this year's count to Feb. 23 — hundreds of
volunteers fan out countywide around daybreak to interview homeless people in riverbeds, parks and other areas.
The coronavirus pandemic canceled the 2021 count, though county staff that year tallied homeless people in shelters. This year’s survey marks the first time Riverside County went beyond counting heads to offer shelter and services to homeless people. Marshall said 49% of those contacted in January accepted help.
The 2022 count found 3,316 homeless people, up from 2,884 in 2020. Of the 3,316, 60% were unsheltered, but the total number of unsheltered home- less people is down 8% from 2020.
Riverside had the most unsheltered homeless people with 514, followed by Palm Springs with 222, Corona with 110 and Indio, which had 105. The number of homeless veterans grew 20%, and there was an 83% jump in homeless families with children. The number of homeless seniors rose 22%.
The number of homeless 18- to 24-year-olds fell 4%. In all, roughly 1,400 homeless people lived in shelters, up 34% from 2021 and 83% from 2020, when just 729 had a shelter bed.
CITY BY CITY BREAKDOWN
Here’s how many homeless people, not including those living in shelters, were counted in western Riverside County and San Gorgonio Pass cities in this year’s count and how those numbers compare with the 2020survey.
Banning: 54, up from 43
Beaumont: 16, no change
Calimesa: 8, down from 17
Canyon Lake: 0, no change
Corona: 110, up from 109
Eastvale: 6, up from 4
Hemet: 82, down from 93
Jurupa Valley: 96, down from 103
Lake Elsinore: 35, down from 50
Menifee: 28, up from 19
Moreno Valley: 77, down from 165
Murrieta: 12, down from 18
Norco: 14, up from 12
Perris: 59, up from 52
Riverside: 514, down from 587
San Jacinto: 57, up from 31
Temecula: 28, down from 59
Wildomar: 7, up from 6
Source: Riverside County
Since 2020, Riverside County has received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief funds. The board set aside some of that money to save struggling renters from eviction, while California’s Project Roomkey and Homekey programs paid for hotel rooms and housing with services to take homeless people off the streets.
Marshall credits those “steep housing investments” with easing the ranks of unsheltered homeless people. United Lift, which is funded by county
COVID-19 dollars and run by nonprofit groups, used $196 million to help 26,000 households, Marshall said.
She added that the county’s Continuum of Care homeless services network has helped 12,000 people this fiscal year, which started in summer and ends June 30.
“What is truly remarkable from these figures is that we didn’t see a dramatic increase in the number of people who are unsheltered given our current state of the economy, considering historic inflation numbers, record-breaking
rent increases, and the lowest vacancy rates that I’ve seen at least in the last 20 years,” Marshall said.
In all, Marshall said her department has spent $401 million on preventing homelessness, sheltering and affordable housing.
The survey’s numbers “always seem to be low,” Supervisor Karen Spiegel said. “I’ve done [the count] every year, … you see an encampment but there’s nobody there, so we can’t count the encampment.”
When it comes to transitional housing, “people are NIMBYs,” Spiegel added. “They don’t want it in their backyard until they realize … if you give a homeless person a house, they’re not gonna succeed unless they have the services to go with it. If you give them the services, they’re not going to be able to succeed unless they have [a] stable home.”
With Congress not planning to send local governments another round of COVID-19 relief money, Spiegel asked Marshall about the county’s plan for when COVID-19 dollars ticketed for homeless services and preventing homelessness run out.
“It is something that’s on our radar right now,” Marshall said, adding that United Lift continues to get applications from struggling renters.
Officials have come up with “an aggressive campaign” for homeless services funding, she said.