LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors heard an update from the organizers of Lake County’s annual Point in Time count, which is meant to gauge the number of homeless members of the community.
Jordan O’Halloran, chair of the Point in Time Count Committee, and Chris Taliaferro, chair of the Lake County Continuum of Care, spoke to the board about the count, set to take place on Jan. 27 around Lake County.
The Lake County Continuum of Care is a coalition of organizations working to end homelessness.
Taliaferro said the Continuum of Care has a new website where people can find out about the count and how to help.
On Jan. 24, volunteers will pack bags with donated items to hand out to those counted, Taliaferro said.
“The reason why the Point in Time count is important in this county is for affordable housing,” he said, explaining that the local homeless numbers don’t support a lot of the housing projects the group has been looking at doing.
As a result, they have focused on beefing up the count. This week, fliers will be going out to recruit volunteers. Taliaferro said he’ll also be coordinating with volunteers for count locations, with each location to have a person designated to answer questions.
In the next two weeks, the general fliers will be going out about the Point in Time count, with information on where the count will take place.
He said the next Point in Time count meeting will take place at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, at Redwood Coast Services in Lakeport.
Taliaferro said there will be count locations in Clearlake, Clearlake Oaks, Kelseyville, Lakeport, Lucerne and Middletown.
He raised issues with law enforcement, explaining that a lot of people who are homeless get arrested. Before the last count, Taliaferro said law enforcement busted up some of the homeless camps, which made it harder to count the homeless.
The Continuum of Care is trying to do strategic planning so people can have a point of contact if they are in need, Taliaferro said.
Board of Supervisors Chair Tina Scott asked Taliaferro if the organization had reached out to law enforcement. He said they had.
Taliaferro also explained that the Continuum of Care is getting a system up and running for data collection, with that data expected to qualify them for more federal funding.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier noted that the most recent Point in Time count was about 50 percent of the previous count. He asked if Taliaferro could explain that change.
Taliaferro said that during the last count, in addition to issues with law enforcement, it had been raining for the entire week leading up to the count. As a result, many homeless were leaving Lake County.
This will be the sixth Point in Time count done locally. Taliaferro said the numbers two years ago were inflated hugely because the Continuum of Care at that time had a new chair who wanted to do things differently, and counted people as homeless but didn’t have the necessary accompanying data.
Before that, the counts had been averaging 200 to 350 homeless per count. Two years ago, it jumped to 600. But in January, Taliaferro said the numbers were back down and in line with the past years. That required them to justify the change and, in the end, the larger number hurt them in their federal funding efforts.
Sabatier asked about count methodology. Taliaferro said they count everyone, including those at risk of homelessness, because different grants have different definitions for homelessness.
O’Halloran said that next month’s count will take place all day long, rather than just part of the day.
Supervisor Rob Brown said that he found out at a meeting last week that Caltrans is working to break up illegal encampments in its right of way and on adjacent properties, but is trying to carry out the process in a more compassionate way. He suggested the Continuum of Care should work with Caltrans and said he would get contact information for Caltrans.
Sabatier asked if the Point in Time count and the annual veterans stand down could be combined to help get more participation from homeless veterans.
Taliaferro said the Point in Time count is mandated to happen in January. They could look at moving the stand down, although that also is supposed to happen at certain times.
Scott asked about how many homeless veterans participated in the stand down this fall. Taliaferro said 52, down slightly from previous years when the fires led to more homeless veterans. Overall, 220 veterans attended the event.
Taliaferro told the board that items they will include in gift bags for people counted gift cards, hygiene items and clothing, as well as contact information for the Continuum of Care. However, on Tuesday he didn’t yet have central contact numbers for the organization, explaining that their strategic planning efforts for contact information are still under way.
He said he appreciated the Board of Supervisors wanting more information about the effort.
“Housing is one of the big things we’re working on and we have to make sure that this Point in Time count does better than it has in the past,” he said.
Scott thanked him for doing an amazing job running the Continuum of Care, noting that she’s seen an improvement over the past few years and she’s excited about the direction it’s going.
For more information about the Continuum of Care, including volunteering for the Point in Time count or donating for the gift bags, visit https://www.lakecoc.org or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Board of Supervisors hears update on upcoming homeless ‘Point in Time’ count
- Elizabeth Larson
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