Mendocino County officials recently reported that this year's survey of homeless residents revealed that their population declined by nearly a quarter.
According to a press release prepared by county officials, "the 2023 Point-in-Time Count, an annual count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons in Mendocino County, (revealed) that the total number of persons experiencing both sheltered and unsheltered homelessness counted in Mendocino County was 633 individuals, a 23% reduction from the prior year."
The release also explains that the count was conducted on Jan. 27 by more than 30 volunteers, then "the data collected on that night is organized and submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and is typically approved and released back to the community in late summer."
And while county officials note that "such counts should be considered just one amongst a variety of sources of data needed to tell the whole story of homelessness ... a decrease of this magnitude very likely points to a positive trend in collective efforts to address homelessness in Mendocino County."
The release quotes Dan McIntire, co-chair of the Mendocino County Homeless Services Continuum of Care as saying: "Over the past several years, our local, state, and federal governments have invested in new affordable housing projects, expanded rental assistance programs, and developed new funding sources specifically for households with children experiencing homelessness. Locally, our communities have significantly improved our communication strategies, including collaboration with our law enforcement agencies. It's gratifying to see those efforts, both financial and collaborative, reflected in the data."
"We believe that our collective work to address the problem of homelessness from many different fronts at once is leading to our apparent progress," Jacque Williams, co-chair of the MCHSCoC, is quoted as saying. "That being said, our work is far from over. Some of our hardest-to-serve community members are still living outdoors, and we need to keep seeking creative and new strategies to guide them to a path of wellness and self-sufficiency."
The release points to these highlights from the latest count:
- The total number of people living in homeless shelters decreased from 270 individuals in 2022 to 223 individuals in 2023. (Please note that the sheltered data in 2022 included individuals living in pandemic-specific sheltering programs that are no longer in operation.)
- The total number of unsheltered people decreased from 560 individuals in 2022 to 410 individuals in 2023.
- 29-percent of individuals living in shelters are over the age of 55; 16-percent of those living outdoors are over the age of 55.
County officials also point out that the count numbers "represent merely a point-in-time snapshot and do not reflect the extent of the problem over an entire year. In addition, the PIT Count does not capture individuals and families who are defined as homeless under federal statutes other than HUD. For example, the U.S. Department of Education employs a broader definition of homelessness that includes children in families who are doubled up or living in area motels without a voucher due to economic hardship or housing loss. The PIT Count also does not accurately reflect individuals living in substandard housing that would not be considered habitable by federal standards.
The full PIT report, as well as the MCHSCoC Strategic Plan to Address Homelessness, can be found at www.mendocinococ.org.
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