Report Finds Homeless People on the Rise in San Mateo County

The number of homeless people is on the rise in San Mateo County, according to census data released on Thursday by the county's Human Services Agency. 

Nearly 2,150 people were counted among the homeless population on Jan. 26, when hundreds of volunteers fanned across the county to check how many people were living on the streets, in vehicles or in camps, according to the Human Services Agency.

Of those counted, 1,162 were unsheltered, which included those in vehicles or camps. The remaining 987 people lived in emergency shelters, jails or hospitals, or participated in motel voucher programs. The findings are representative of an annual estimate of a little more than 6,700 people who are homeless, officials said.

"In light of the economy and the lack of employment, it's not surprising to see a rise in homeless numbers," said Wendy Goldberg, manager of the agency's Center on Homelessness.

The last census was completed in 2009, and the numbers of people without homes released today are 17 percent higher than those two years ago.

"There was a significant increase in the number of people observed in vehicles and encampments," the census report read.

The data collected allows administrators at the Center on Homelessness to apply for an annual $5.7 million grant, which is used to find transitional housing for people on the streets, Goldberg said.

This year, 696 people were reported living in encampments in San Mateo County, compared to 381 in 2009. Specialists believe this number may have gone up because of the sheer number of volunteers helping out in counting itinerant people.

This year's volunteers included "currently homeless individuals who have first-hand knowledge about where unsheltered homeless people tend to sleep at night," the report read.

The majority of people living on the streets were found in Redwood City and East Palo Alto, and officials believe this has to do with considerably high unemployment rates. In East Palo Alto, the unemployment rate was about 19.4 percent at the time the homeless population was counted this year, according to the report.

Surveyors found that almost 90 percent of those without homes were also unemployed in San Mateo County. In a survey of those counted, volunteers discovered that the unsheltered homeless were typically single unemployed men who were living with a disability.

The men said they tended to be unemployed because they lacked an address and because of their disability. Volunteers also discovered that 12 percent of those without shelter are veterans in San Mateo County. That percentage has gone down steadily, from 27 percent in 2007 to 14 percent in 2009, according to the report.

"We placed 100 veterans in permanent housing in 2010," Goldberg said. Even with the increase in the county's homeless population, only two families with children were counted as living on the street, the report said.

Officials credit the county's family homelessness prevention efforts for the tiny number of children living without a roof over their heads. The programs include the motel voucher program, which allows down-and-out people to receive permission to stay in a motel so long as they check themselves into a shelter the next day.

"We felt we held ground really well during this economic crisis," Goldberg said.

-Bay City News