Merced County counts its homeless

About an hour before sunrise Thursday, some 150 people took to the streets throughout Merced County in an effort to ask a dozen questions of every homeless person in the area.

The questionnaire was part of a new effort for the annual homeless tally, which the county must do at least every other year to be eligible for federal dollars to fight homelessness.

Final numbers will not be released until late February.

Merced City Manager Steve Carrigan, who led a team of four in the city’s downtown, said this year’s tally should be the most accurate it’s ever been. “The previous counts don’t matter to me,” he said.

Continuum of Care, a coalition of homeless advocates and service providers, conducts the count. Carrigan, who has been the chairman for about a year, teamed with some Riggs Ambulance employees to comb the streets and alleys between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and M Street from 20th Street to the Union Pacific railroad tracks.

Some agreed to answer all the questions – which included common demographics questions and if they were veterans – while others declined.

It’s not an exact science, and at least some of the volunteer information may not have been reliable, but the volunteers got as much information as they could glean.

For example, one 49-year-old man sleeping in a hallway claimed to have worked for the NATO and to have been missing in action. Volunteers were able to get his age, ethnicity and other usable details.

The questionnaire did not address mental illness, but about half of the homeless population suffers from some form of mental illness, according to a 2010 report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Volunteers also happened upon a man sleeping in a stairwell of a downtown parking structure. The man claimed he was not homeless and refused to answer questions, but the team tallied him anyway. The count makes room for such a decision if necessary.

To try to make the process easier, volunteer Sonya Severo and others filled bags with socks, snacks and hygiene products for the people who participated. “We got online and read about the things people ask for on the street,” she said.

Severo, the community relations manager for Riggs, said the team wanted to thank people for participating and the bags also helped some of the homeless to open up.

On Main Street was Michel Arretche, 61, who said he is homeless and lives in Los Banos. He had traveled to Merced for a doctor’s appointment; he needs a hip replacement.

Over in Los Banos, volunteers were organized by the Rev. Steve Hammond of Bethel Community Church. He said the 17 volunteers in Los Banos were four times as many as were needed in past years.

The church served breakfast to attract homeless for the count, he said, and a mobile team visited places where homeless people are known to frequent. They counted 69 people in Los Banos, which is down from 82 last year.

Hammond said he believes the extra volunteers and training paid off in getting an accurate number. “We do have some new faces, but numbers are down,” he said. “I think that’s a very good number for Los Banos.”

The count this year covered more of the county than ever before, according to Phil Schmauss, a member of Continuum and marketing director for the Merced County Rescue Mission. Other than Gustine, El Nido and Snelling, volunteer teams conducted the count in every city and unincorporated community, he said.

In Merced, the city was carved into 28 zones to give volunteers enough time to conduct the dozen-question interview. The downtown, which used to be one zone, was made into 13, Schmauss said.

“That’s where some of the highest numbers in previous years were being reported,” he said.

In the early hours of Thursday morning, volunteers also conducted a shelter count. A more in-depth survey is planned for Friday, which includes questions about mental health, substance abuse and other subjects.

The 2015 count tallied 899 homeless people in Merced County. Carrigan said that number isn’t reliable because last year’s count did not require counters to speak with homeless people to confirm they are living on the street.

Continuum leaders say the county has made noticeable headway in housing veterans. Carrigan said he believes housing veterans is particularly important, and its success is an example of how the Continuum can end homelessness by targeting specific groups.

Getting an accurate count is essential, Carrigan said. “If you don’t know what your batting average is, how do you gauge success?” he asked.

The Continuum plans a homeless summit to reveal the count’s findings, which is set for 8:30 a.m. to noon on Feb. 26 at the Christian Life Center, 650 E. Olive Ave. in Merced.

There is no cost for the event, but organizers are asking people to register at www.eventbrite.com.

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 3:43 PM with the headline "Merced County counts its homeless."