Merced County homeless count will change its method

The group that takes a tally of homeless people in Merced County plans to do its count a different way this year, which organizers believe will make the count more accurate.

Organizers said the new way of counting falls in line with requirements of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is where the county’s homeless-related funding comes from.

In the last five or so homeless counts, up to 40 volunteers would do the counting on one early morning in January. The tally only required the volunteers to see a homeless person to count him or her.

Under the method to be implemented in the next count, volunteers would have to actually speak to people who they believe are homeless. That interaction would include a dozen-question survey to determine if the person is homeless and find out other pertinent details, said Joe Colletti, executive director of Urban Initiatives, the nonprofit that contracts with the county to oversee homeless efforts through Continuum of Care.

“I don’t think you can do it accurately without doing (the survey),” he said.

The continuum will also have to more than double its number of volunteers for the next count. Colletti said he’ll need 100 or more counters, because the surveys will lengthen the process.

Volunteers counted 876 homeless adults and 23 children throughout the county in January, compared with last year’s 768. The number of homeless in the city of Merced was also higher at 592, compared with 476 in 2014.

The surveys are also meant to track the demographics of the homeless. The continuum works to house homeless people through programs that target specific demographics – whether they are veterans, have HIV or fit into other categories of housing.

Los Banos volunteers counted 82 homeless people in January.

Los Banos City Manager Steve Carrigan, who is the chairman of the continuum, said the new method makes more sense because volunteers can’t be sure someone is homeless by sight alone. He said he expects the numbers to decrease during the next count.

Not all members of the continuum are behind the change. John Carlisle, a continuum member, said he doesn’t see the logic in changing methods. He said rousing a sleeping homeless person, who is used to being defensive, seems to be a safety issue.

He said changing the style of the count also makes it harder to compare the numbers with last year’s. On top of that, he said, finding more than double the number of volunteers seems unrealistic.

“We’ve never, ever had adequate volunteers to cover the county,” he said.

Each city or county has a few options for the counts, according to Ed Cabrera, spokesman from HUD’s San Francisco regional office. HUD requires that communities do a count every other year and that any surveys taken happen within a week of the count.

It’s up to the community to decide whether to do the visual count or the one that includes surveys, or some combination, he said.

He said HUD encourages the surveys, but noted the effort does take more work. “I think in the end communities have found it to be worth it,” he said.

The continuum also plans to seek a state grant, which could award the group up to $200,000. That will come into play in the spring, organizers said.

The local plan is to apply for funding for a “Street Outreach and Engagement Team,” which would be dedicated to working with a wide range of public and private homeless service providers in order to help homeless people maintain housing. The team, which could include three members, could also focus on areas where homeless people congregate, such as Merced’s downtown.

This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Merced County homeless count will change its method."