Homeless count resumes after COVID hiatus. What Stanislaus County is learning from it
For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, volunteers for the Stanislaus County unsheltered homeless count surveyed people living outdoors and asked them a series of questions Thursday.
Some unsheltered Modesto residents shared challenges accessing social services and, unlike previous annual counts, volunteers logged responses on a mobile app instead of paper.
Julie Portman, who sleeps in a truck with her husband in Modesto, said stolen documents and her age are a couple of reasons she has difficulty accessing services. The 60-year-old has arthritis, carpal tunnel and mental health disabilities, but said she doesn’t think it prevents her from holding a job. What she needs, Portman said, is structure and stability.
“I believe that the shelters and stuff, they help you, but it’s not so simple as one plus one equals two,” Portman said. “Like, people have issues and problems and I don’t really believe that people are really dealing with the issues and problems.“
One Modesto program that helped core issues was Golden Valley Health Centers’ homeless clinic, Portman said. She used to visit the Corner of Hope clinic for physical and mental health services, but it closed a few years ago. The healthcare provider continues to serve patients experiencing homelessness with a mobile van and trailer program, said Golden Valley spokeswoman Amy Collier Carroll.
The Stanislaus Community System of Care, which organizes the count, will include Portman’s responses in its report to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The department requires local communities to conduct the annual point-in-time count to receive homeless funding. Counts serve as snapshots and are not definitive totals.
Surveys typically occur each January, but the system of care along with other communities got permission to postpone the count because of a spike in COVID-19 cases. The system also canceled the January 2021 outdoor count because of the pandemic.
Unlike past years, volunteers used an app to record information for the sheltered homeless count Wednesday and the outdoor survey Thursday. The app allowed volunteers to track the location of survey participants while they counted them, said Jessica Hill, community development manager for the the city of Modesto.
Unhoused residents discuss services
Farther east on Yosemite Boulevard from where Portman sat Thursday morning, Jonny Moore said he thinks no Modesto or Stanislaus County efforts to reduce or alleviate homelessness are helpful. Among nonprofit services, he identified the United Samaritans Foundation’s daily bread lunch trucks as effective.
Outside a church off Yosemite, another unhoused man said even accessing shower services can be difficult. The Cleansing Hope shower shuttle sometimes operates across town from where he lives, said Arturo, who declined to give his last name, citing safety concerns.
Arturo added he would like to see Modesto start a safe campground area again, such as the Modesto Outdoor Emergency Shelter that closed in January 2020. He has been living on the streets since about May 2021, after he returned to Modesto in April to stay with his father and 91-year-old grandmother.
“Me and my father, we love each other, but we just can’t be in the same house for very long or else we start arguing and fighting,” Arturo said. “So, it’s best that I’m just out here. Less stress for my grandma.”
In an interview with The Bee after volunteers asked her the survey questions, 60-year-old Reba Ingram also called for a designated campground. People living on the streets can then rest at a place where they will not have issues with law enforcement, Ingram said.
“Right now, you’ve got to go find some private or county property, and if they catch you anywhere down there, they’re going to kick you out and take everything you own,” Ingram said. “Now how is that helping? It isn’t.”
Will 2022 Stanislaus count set record?
The number of volunteers can affect point-in-time counts. About 210 people volunteered for the 2022 survey, said Kyle DeJesus, incident commander for the count and a management consultant for Stanislaus County. Over the past five years, 150 to 250 volunteers helped with the survey, DeJesus said.
Stanislaus County’s annual homeless count has broken previous records for the past three years. The 2021 count, which used an alternative method instead of outdoor interviews, tallied 2,927 unhoused people after the 2020 survey counted 2,107. The 2019 count tallied 1,923 people, breaking the record of 1,800 set in 2009, The Bee previously reported.
Whether the 2022 survey breaks records is to be determined, DeJesus said. But it will show how the pandemic has affected the homeless population, he added. Results of the Stanislaus count may be publicly released around mid-to-late April, DeJesus said.
