SLO: Point-In-Time (PIT) Homeless Census 1/26/2015 Report

January 26, 2015, I participated in the Homeless Services Oversight Council (HSOC) Point in Time (PIT) Count of the homeless in SLO County. This was my first time, and I am glad that I did. It was an eye opener for me, but not in the way that you might expect (more below). You can read more about the "PIT Count" by viewing the SLO Homeless website by clicking here.

The count took place on Monday, January 26, 2015, from 6am to 10am. You can read an article on the count in the Tribune newspaper BY DAVID SNEED AND CYNTHIA LAMBERT entitled "Volunteers scour SLO County to count homeless population" by clicking here. For the PIT Count, the volunteers (like me) were teamed with paid homeless "guides". Together, the homeless/volunteer team was assigned an area of the city of SLO (and bits of adjacent county land) and given a map and census forms to be completed in the field. We were given until 10am that day to complete our survey work.

[Note: names and ages disguised to protect the identities of the participants] I was teamed up with a homeless paid guide named James (age mid 50's) and a fellow volunteer named Detrick (age early 70's). The homeless guides had received extensive training from Peter Connery, Project Director  (Vice President, Applied Survey Research, http://appliedsurveyresearch.org) and his staff. The volunteers (like me) previously received 1 hour of training to get ready for participating in this homeless count.

We headed out into the field while it was still dark. My team was assigned the area defined by Prado Road, Higuera, and Los Osos Valley Road. This space included a large homeless population in the creekbed adjacent to the Bob Jones bike trail. Our area also included a small section of county-controlled land outside of the city of SLO. 

ABOVE: Viewing an abandoned homeless encampment in the creekbed. If it was not inhabited, then it was not counted in the census. Click to enlarge.

I welcomed this opportunity to participate in the survey because it gave me a chance to spend some quality time with a homeless person and another volunteer who was sympathetic to the plight of the SLO homeless. It didn't take long for me to began learning helpful information about how our guide James became homeless, and why he has stayed that way. In addition, it was a chance for me to share some solutions for how to house our homeless population to another volunteer, Detrick. Ending homelessness, IMHO, is a political problem, not a financial one.

The survey itself went smoothly, as our housed and unhoused team coordinated well together. Our count required teamwork, as James directed us to various homeless camps buried deep in the lush riparian habitat of the creekbed. We tallied the results on a homeless count scoresheet and clipboard. Our team counted about 29 homeless people total, which consisted primarily of single men, with a scattering of women, and nobody under 25 years old.

As a side note: Wouldn't it be great if we got all the homeless people out of our beautiful creek bed environment and into affordable housing? Oh wait, the city of SLO does not allow affordable housing to be built. Oh well. Maybe they should? Please? I guess we'll just continue to house the homeless in the creekbed, where they can hide in fear of the authorities, and leave all their trash and garbage spread out all over the place. Great solution, city of SLO! I'm so proud!

A Previous Survey for the "50 Now" Program: On many previous occasions, I have visited these same creekside encampments adjacent to the Bob Jones bike trail. The most recent time was during the "50 Now" survey a few months ago in 2014. You can read more about the "50 Now" Program by clicking here. For the 50 Now Survey, I was one of many who administered a longevity questionnaire to determine the 50 homeless people in SLO County who were most likely to die in the street, and get them into housing ASAP. 

For the 50 Now survey, I was assigned to work with SLO City Police Department C.A.T. (Community Action Team) officers Jeremy Behrens (jbehrens@slocity.org) and Jim Fellows (jfellows@slocity.org), as well as SLO Parks Department's own "Ranger Dan" Dixon.

Back to the 1/26/2015 Point In Time Count: Of the 4 hours spent doing the count of our area, at least 2.5 hours of that was spent hiking up and down through the creekbed area. The balance was spent covering the remainder of our area by a combination of vehicle and foot.

Above: I took this selfie out by the SLO Sewage Treatment Plant during the survey.

Once the hiking portion of our count was completed, we hopped into Detrick's car, and completed the remainder of the survey via automobile. Occasionally, we were required to jump out of the car to examine possible homeless areas. Note that the PIT Count used a visual survey method, and did not allow interviewing or speaking with the homeless. 

What was surprising about the count? After years of reading the PIT Count results with a bit of skepticism regarding it's accuracy, my experience here did not change my initial skepticism. The count itself is likely to be inaccurate, but in which direction (overcount or undercount) I couldn't really say. I observed evidence during this experience that point to possible undercounting and overcounting. 

Conclusion: I encourage people to get involved with activities like the PIT Count so that they can see what the city of SLO allows to flourish right under their noses. Regarding the accuracy of the count, let's just say that regardless of what techniques are used, counting the homeless is difficult and fraught with inaccuracies. Based on my limited participation in this one count, I believe the PIT count results are likely to undercount the homeless population than they are to overcount it. I was afraid of that. We are doing even worse than I thought in our effort to "end homelessness", as there are likely to be more homeless than the PIT count indicates. 

Note: I have a BS in Math and Computer Science from UCLA, an MBA from USC, and a MS in Math (where I concentrated in advanced statistics) from USC, so I know a bit about statistical analysis, which includes correlational and counting/undercounting (also know as sampling) issues, which are relative to the PIT Count. This background supports another layer of curiosity regarding the accuracy of the PIT Count.

Note: I never take photos of people who are homeless or their active "encampments", as well as homeless volunteers, in order to protect everyone's privacy.This also helps to maintain a relationship of trust with them. This also means I don't get many photos of homeless advocacy in action to share on this website. The PIT Count was a rare example to get a handful of illustrative photos.

Importance of Homeless Census

The Tribune newspaper, Page S6, January 30, 2015, lower left corner of page

[This article appeared in the Tribune, but apparently I cannot link to Tribune articles anymore, but it is short, so you can read it below]. We toss countless bouquets to the many volunteers who took part in Monday’s homeless census. Starting at 6 a.m., volunteers fanned out in communities around the county, looking for people who are living out of cars and tents, in abandoned buildings, under bridges and in creek beds. A separate count of homeless youths was conducted later in the day.

Such counts are important because they give local governments and nonprofit agencies an idea of where services are needed. Also, counties that receive funding for homeless services from the Department of Housing and Urban Development are required to conduct a census at least once every two years.

A similar census conducted in 2013 found 2,186 homeless people in SLO County; results of this year’s count will be released later in the year. The Tribune will let you know what it reveals.

Click Here to go back to "Tim Waag Blog" Home Page!