Officials Still Waiting for Homeless Count

By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

June 7 -- It took three nights to assign a number to the faces that live in the back alleyways, darkened parks and the seemingly endless maze of streets that crisscross Los Angeles County, and more than five months to compile and review the statistics.

But officials from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) say they are now close -- nearly two weeks out -- from releasing the highly sought after data that cities like Santa Monica, and the County, will use to buttress service programs and secure critical funding from the state and federal government. (see related stories)

"Everyone is waiting to see the numbers," said Mitchell Netburn, executive director of LAHSA, which spearheaded the $350,000 count. "There is essentially a de facto government mandate that funding will be tied to this count."

So critical is that information that LAHSA cancelled an important June 1 meeting of Bring LA Home -- a countywide initiative that aims to eliminate homelessness in the area over the next decade -- because the figures were not fully ready yet.

"They're essentially going through the numbers with a fine tooth comb now," said Netburn of demographers and social service experts from local colleges, such as University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), who have the statistics for the County now.

At its rescheduled meeting in the fall, Bring LA Home will unveil a plan to begin slashing in half the ranks of the chronically homeless, those who have called the streets their home the longest, said City Council member Richard Bloom, a panelist for Bring LA Home.

Bloom said the plan is set, but will not get off the ground until the numbers are ready.

"The chronic homeless phase is already in place, and we are ready to just drop in the numbers," said Bloom. "And while any delay that holds up this process is unacceptable... I think we need to have a certain amount of acceptance that this is a monumental task."

The task -- surveying 500 census tracts first-hand and extrapolating the numbers to the rest of the 2000 tracts that make up Los Angeles County using additional census information such as poverty and income levels -- involved 88 different governments around the county, Bloom said.

Yet while the nation’s largest urban county waits, counties in the Bay Area received the information in March and are already putting the numbers to work.

City officials who work with the wide array of homeless service programs in Santa Monica, said they too would like to see the figures, and they are getting anxious.

"We've been waiting for these numbers for quite a long time," said Julie Rusk, the City's human services division manager. "It won't affect Santa Monica any differently than other cities, though. We're just like every other city that's been waiting."

The statistics, Rusk said, will give the City and various service programs the evidence they need to secure crucial funding from the government, both state and federal.

"I think it will be a lot harder to make a compelling case for increased services and funding without having concrete statistical data to back it up, no doubt," said Rusk.

Rusk noted that there are several times throughout the year that programs and cities can apply for such funding.

While the wait is unfortunate, Netburn has said the job was no small feat.

"This is the first time ever that we've done an actual street count," said Netburn. "Before, when we tried to get a count, it was purely based on information gleaned from administrative information. Not to mention that this is the largest urban county in the country... It was a huge undertaking."

That undertaking may continue as cities and service groups will need to organize the overall numbers in different ways, further extending the wait, Netburn said.

"Everyone wants the numbers broken out differently," said Netburn "In the case of Santa Monica, they'll want it within the City limits. In Los Angeles, they may want it by individual City Council districts."

Though the numbers may increase the odds of receiving increased funding from the state and federal government, both LAHSA and City officials agree that Santa Monica and other cities throughout the region can move forward with projects that are already on the drawing board, such as a mental health facility, a sobering center and more shelters.

"I don't think the delay will hurt those projects," said Netburn. "There's way more people on the streets than there is permanent or temporary shelters. The need still outweighs the resources, by far."