Homeless enlisted to aid with body count
The Los Angeles Homeless Authority’s physical homeless count was tabulated in January involving 1,000 volunteers and paid homeless workers, almost 100 of whom were from Santa Monica.
The count, which was the first of its kind, was released publicly on Thursday and based on 500 sections of greater Los Angeles’ more than 2,000 census tracts. Data was gathered from “hot spots,” where homeless people congregate, and from randomly chosen areas weighted and calculated to produce a scientific survey 95 percent accurate, according to county officials.
The local base for LAHSA’s homeless count was at the Ken Edwards Center on Fourth Street, covering Santa Monica and Venice on the night of Tuesday, Jan. 25.
A unique feature of LAHSA’s approach was to hire homeless people for $10 per hour. LAHSA hired a total of 629 homeless workers, many of whom worked multiple evenings, at a total cost of $72,432.
“At first, everyone was skeptical, but we advocated for this approach because we felt that homeless people would know best how to locate other homeless people,” said Robin Conerly, deputy executive director of LAHSA.
Santa Monica’s volunteers packed the center to capacity, jostling in line well before the official 9 p.m. start time to receive their team assignments, clipboards with statistic sheets and area maps, and bright yellow “Everyone Counts” hats.
For completing the training and appearing that night, volunteers received $20. Volunteers who went out and canvassed received $50. Of the 136 that waited in line, 73 had to be turned away.
Information LAHSA tabulated for geographic specific regions, such as the city of Santa Monica, will be released in coming weeks.
Of the 83,347 homeless people LAHSA counted in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, 57,426 (or 69 percent) are men, and 24,671 (30 percent) are women. About 1,250 are transgender, according to the report.
In terms of race, 39 percent are black, 29 percent white, 25 percent Latino and 7 percent multi-racial.
Blacks are overrepresented, according to the report, as they make up only 9 percent of the overall county population.
Of the 83,347 counted, only 9,875 individuals are in shelters.
There are 7,551 homeless families in shelters or on the streets on any given night.
Glendale, Long Beach and Pasadena — which have 7,600 homeless combined — will be presenting demographic information about those populations in the near future, but it brings the county total to 91,000.
By request of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which will dole out more than $1.2 billion in the next fiscal year, the agencies must provide accurate, statistical proof of their homeless populations to secure funds for housing, outreach and mental health services.
LAHSA operates on a roughly $50 million budget annually, and federal grants, with Housing and Urban Development being the largest, make up nearly 80 percent of that budget, said a LAHSA spokesperson.
While yearly Santa Monica estimates show the homeless population rising — a number based on the services requested — the current county figures are based on studies from 1993 and 1999 that relied largely on economic statistics, not physical counts. Those surveys estimated the total of homeless in Los Angeles County at 82,000 and 78,000, respectively. In Santa Monica, estimates of the number of homeless individuals range between 1,200 and 2,000.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 17, 2005. Read the original PDF.