The point-in-time count this week of Orange County\u2019s population that lives without stable shelter is an important tool. Becks Heyhoe, executive director of the nonprofit United to End Homelessness, says her organization uses it to identify service gaps in Orange County\u2019s homelessness outreach and response.<\/p>\n
In 2024, when the biennial count<\/a> showed an increase in unhoused young adults ages 18 to 24, for example, Heyhoe said advocates developed a new pilot program aimed at preventing youth homelessness.<\/p>\n Population data allows service providers to plan more targeted outreach to groups that are falling into homelessness at higher rates, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe look at data to understand what\u2019s shifting, how are the numbers going up or down and how to educate the public,\u201d Heyhoe said. \u201cIf the count shows that 1,000 families are homeless, but only 200 are in shelter, for example, that tells us we need to build more shelters for families.\u201d<\/p>\n After a count of those staying in local shelters Monday night, volunteers will take to the streets at the crack of dawn today to begin the tally of the region\u2019s unsheltered population.<\/p>\n The point-in-time count, scheduled through Thursday, is an enormous undertaking to track the number of people sleeping in shelters, in their cars or outside on the streets. Teams of volunteers are starting this morning in Central Orange County, and they will be back out in the evening. On Wednesday, the dawn and dusk canvases move to the northern end of O.C., and on Thursday will wrap up in South Orange County.<\/p>\n A census of homeless people<\/a> is required every two years by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It provides important demographic data such as how many families, juveniles and people with disabilities have become homeless, as well as information such as where people gather<\/a> and what their needs are, officials said. Crucially, the results also determine how much state and federal funding a county receives to tackle homelessness<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe count is a unique opportunity for people to see what homelessness looks like firsthand and feel more connected to their communities,\u201d said Doug Becht, the director of the county\u2019s Office of Care Coordination.<\/p>\n More importantly, Becht said, collecting accurate data on how many people are experiencing homelessness allows the county to apply for the necessary resources to tackle the crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important not only for us to count everyone because that\u2019s the right thing to do,\u201d he said, \u201cbut also to ensure we\u2019re providing the right information up to the state and federal government so we\u2019re getting our fair share of funding.\u201d<\/p>\n Becht said preparation for the biennial census took six to eight months; the county worked with local law enforcement, elected officials and outreach workers to craft survey questions and pinpoint \u201chotspots\u201d where large numbers of homeless people gather and sleep for volunteers to canvas.<\/p>\n The 2024 count recorded more than 7,300 unhoused people in Orange County, a 28% increase from two years earlier. A little more than a third were chronically homeless, while roughly 1,100 people reported having fallen into homelessness for the first time. Among those surveyed, 869 were older adults age 62 or older, 328 were veterans and 308 were young adults between 18 and 24 years old.<\/p>\n The report also found that nearly 3 in 4 people living in the county-run Yale Navigation Center and Bridges at Kraemer Place were eligible for permanent housing, but only 1 out of 12 were successfully placed. Advocates said that finding illustrates the severe lack of housing capacity in Orange County.<\/p>\n The double-digit rise in homelessness from 2022 to 2024 can be attributed to the end of COVID-era eviction moratoriums and emergency rental assistance programs, county officials said, which had kept many people housed during the pandemic. Compared to pre-pandemic years, officials said the county\u2019s homeless population increased by only about 7%.<\/p>\n Heyhoe,\u00a0with the United to End Homelessness,\u00a0said this year\u2019s census results may be grim.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the coming count, I suspect that it\u2019s likely we\u2019ll continue to see an increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have fewer resources to help people on the edge, people living paycheck to paycheck who are a situation away from not being able to afford rent.\u201d<\/p>\n Some community advocates said the count, as informative as it may be, can provide only an imperfect snapshot of the county\u2019s homeless community that inevitably leaves many people out.<\/p>\n \u201cIndividuals and families who are unhoused may be more hesitant to participate in this year\u2019s count due to the current political and social climate, and a one-day count will not fully account for everyone who is unsheltered in each area,\u201d said LaVal Brewer, president of the Irvine-based South County Outreach, a nonprofit that provides a food pantry, homeless prevention and rapid re-housing services.<\/p>\n The survey results are expected to be released in early summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The point-in-time count this week of Orange County\u2019s population that lives without stable shelter is an important tool.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,179,969,1071,23],"class_list":["post-151570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-community","tag-homeless","tag-local-government","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}