No Permanent Address: Looking For The Homeless

A count of the number of homeless individuals in Contra Costa County, conducted each year to steer services aiming to help these people, will continue today by a county health agency.

Contra Costa Health Services began the survey with the help of community partners and volunteers, started at 8 a.m. Thursday and is expecting to finish by the end of the today.

Last year’s survey identified 3,715 people as homeless in the county. According to a report released by the agency, 690 of those individuals reported being chronically homeless and 316 reported having chronic substance abuse problems. The 2015 number of homeless increased from the 2014 count, which identified 2,263 homeless people in the county. The number in 2013 was 3,798, according to the agency.

The survey documents both sheltered and unsheltered people who don’t have permanent housing. Of the 3,715 people identified as homeless last year, 1,326 were unsheltered. Agency officials said the data drives the development of responses to the problem of homelessness for the government, service providers and community advocates.

The count is also a required part of the county’s requests for federal and state funding for homeless services, according to the agency. It will likely take several weeks for the data collected in today’s and Friday’s survey to be released.

-Bay City News, image via Morguefile