The annual homeless count is underway, but families remain hard to track

The annual homeless count is underway, but one population that’s hard to count? Families

Last year, homelessness declined overall in the region, but not for families with children. And service providers say even thatwas an undercount.

Volunteers are fanning out across the region tonight for the last night of L.A.’s annual homeless count to get a census of the unhoused population. But advocates say there’s one population that’s especially hard to get an accurate count of: families.

The way the count works is that volunteers count who they can physically see on the streets.

Homeless services providers say that doesn’t work with families because families don’t usually experience homelessness out on the streets. Instead, they are more likely to be living discreetly in their cars, in motels or doubled up in suboptimal units.

“ We know they’re there. Yhey’re our clients. We see them when they come, and they are referred [to us] by the schools, by 211, by the faith community. We see them but not through the count,” said Constanza Pachon, CEO of The Whole Child, an agency that serves families in southeast L.A. County.

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What is the situation for unhoused families in the LA area?

Last year, homelessness declined overall in the region, but not for families with children. And service providers say even that was an undercount. In the region where Pachon serves, the count estimated a total of 265 families experiencing homelessness, but the agency serves about 2,500 families a year.

“There have been homeless counts in the previous years in which we don’t see any families at all,” said Pachon, whose agency is running a site for the count in East L.A.

Providers worry they’ll see more families struggling with homelessness with funding cuts to the services system. Pachon says they’ve been at capacity over the past year and have a running waitlist for families who need housing services.

Mark Hood, CEO of Union Rescue Mission, volunteered Tuesday night and walked 9 miles through downtown Los Angeles. He said he didn’t encounter any families, but his agency, which runs shelters, has been seeing a rising need among families with children.

“We have certainly, last summer and into the fall, seen more families come through our door,” he said.

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