Final tallies are expected in February
By DIDIER DIELS Special to the Daily Press
SUNSET PARK — Stepping onto the corner of 21st Street and Ocean Park Boulevard, 22-year-old Tyler Jones clutched his clip-board beneath wide eyes and a tight-lipped grin, oddly enthusiastic about the prospects of finding homeless people.
“Are they homeless?” Tyler asked, pointing out a middle-aged couple walking their Labrador to his mother, Felica Jones. “They aren’t, mommy? How do you know?”
“They have a dog,” Felica Jones answered.
The mother-and-son team joined 61 other trained volunteers this week and combed the streets of Santa Monica as part of the first-ever countywide attempt to count how many homeless individuals really are out there.
The count, which lasted three days and ended on Thursday, was based on roughly 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. County officials are not certain what the margin of error will be.
Preliminary results are expected in three weeks, with final numbers in June.
The sidewalk survey — part of a $350,000 project coordinated by the Los Angeles County Homeless Services Authority — ran simultaneously with efforts to tally the number of transients in temporary residences, shelters and half-way houses, as well as hospitals, jails, and the motels that accept government vouchers.
The LAHSA population study, for which the city and county of Los Angeles each paid half, got underway as local agencies nationwide scramble to meet new federal standards in order to receive grant funding for homeless services.
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 social service 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 annual budget, and federal grants make up nearly 80 percent of it, said Siri Khalsa, an LAHSA spokesperson.
While annual estimates in Santa Monica show the homeless population rising — based on the number of transients requesting services — the current county figures are based on studies from 1993 and 1999 that relied largely on economic statistics like how many people live below the poverty line. Those surveys estimated the total of homeless people in Los Angeles County at 82,000 and 78,000, respectively. A 1999 survey paid for by Santa Monica City Hall estimated the local homeless population at 1,037. However, officials believe that number is closer to 2,000 now.
How the results of the new street count survey will compare to those numbers remain uncertain, as well as how much federal grant money is at stake if the numbers are higher or lower.
“We certainly don’t think our homeless population is shrinking,” said LAHSA Executive Director Mitchell Netburn. “But a street count has never been done before. What’ll turn up? It’s impossible to say.”
Volunteers — many of them homeless themselves — packed the Ken Edwards Center to capacity on Tuesday night. The center on Fourth Street in downtown Santa Monica served as the headquarters for the local count. Shortly before the start time of 9 p.m., more than 100 people lined up to receive their team assignments, clip-boards with statistical sheets and area maps, as well as bright yellow, “Everyone Counts” hats.
County staff trained more volunteers the previous week than they needed, expecting 20 percent not to show up for the actual exercise.
For completing the training and appearing Tuesday, volunteers received $20. Volunteers who went out and canvassed received $50. Of the 136 who waited in line in Santa Monica, 73 had to be turned away.
“This was garbage,” said Troy Hill, wearing his yellow hat late Tuesday on the Third Street Promenade. “I did the training, and I’m going to Inglewood tomorrow. I just hope they’ll need me there.”
A volunteer who only identified himself as “Robert,” walked down the Promenade at midnight on Wednesday and counted 31 transients between Wilshire Boulevard and Broadway — nine males, two females and 20 persons of “unknown gender.”
Still, the count seemed far from scientific.
Passing a group of 23 young people — 16 males and seven females — Robert looked from a distance, then marked “15 juveniles” on his sheet.
“I took a guess,” he said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 28, 2005. Read the original PDF.