Sonoma County needs volunteers to count its homeless population

Hundreds of volunteers will take to the streets across Sonoma County in near-freezing temperatures and possibly rainy weather in the early morning of Jan. 25 to participate in the ?2019 homeless population count.

What volunteers will see are families, chronically homeless individuals and young teens who face those weather conditions on a daily basis, said Michael Gause, acting homeless services manager for the Sonoma County Community Development Commission.

“The phrase I hear most often after volunteers come back from the count is ‘eye-opening,’?” Gause said. “You are outside very early and it is cold and wet and you are seeing the full effect of homelessness and then you instantly understand that they have nowhere to go.”

The county has one of the nation’s biggest adult and chronically homeless populations among largely suburban communities, according to a federal report released earlier this month. The 2018 homeless assessment report by the ?U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found there were 2,657 homeless adults and 715 chronically homeless people - meaning they have lived without a home for a year or more - in Sonoma County.

The local homeless population count next month is part of the national point-in-time census that is required of counties and cities at least every two years in order to qualify for federal homelessness assistance funds. Millions in federal funding given to the county goes toward supporting homeless programs throughout the area, Gause said.

In 2016, Sonoma County moved to an annual count to better track changes in the homeless population.

To more efficiently find and track all of the homeless living on the streets, Gause said many volunteers will team with a paid guide who is homeless and who understands the terrain.

Homeless guides are paid ?$15 an hour, and typically after the count is finished, at about 10 a.m., go to lunch with volunteers.

“It breaks down a lot of stigmas about homelessness and it’s not surprising to hear that they all hang out afterwards,” Gause said.

In recent years, tracking homeless teens was a challenge that Applied Survey Research, the firm organizing the count, worked to improve, said Jennielynn Holmes-Davis, director of shelter and housing for Catholic Charities in Santa Rosa.

Now, coordinators like Holmes-?Davis and Gause, who work daily with homeless people, said families are becoming increasingly difficult to track.

“Families are usually tripled or doubled up so it is hard to find them because they are less likely to allow kids to sleep on the street,” Holmes-Davis said.

Gause said the numbers of homeless people in Sonoma County had been trending down since 2011, but it reversed last year as a result of the wildfires.

“Chronic homelessness is one area we are seeing increase quickly,” Gause said.

The night before the county’s homeless population count, the Community Development Commission also surveys the number of homeless people sheltered and those living in transitional housing.

There also will be a phone survey to check in with people on their housing situation, which Gause said is especially important in the years following the fires.

“We depend heavily on volunteers to make this happen and we need more help,” Gause said.

For those interested in volunteering, information on how to sign up and training are available online at the Community Development Commission website.