Daybreak had not but risen as San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan tromped by the frost-covered grass, peering underneath bridges and down embankments, looking for tents the place unhoused individuals would possibly reside.
“Sorry to disturb you,” the mayor known as out as one man emerged from his tent, perplexed to see individuals on the encampment so early within the morning.
Mahan was serving to with a long-standing biennial ritual — the point-in-time homeless rely, which seeks to tally everybody dwelling in tents, vehicles, on the road or somewhere else not meant for habitation. It’s an necessary, federally mandated rely that helps decide state and federal funding and applications to serve homeless residents. Historically, counties all through the Bay Space — and throughout the nation — participate on the similar time.
However surprisingly, Santa Clara County counted by itself, and a lot of the remainder of the Bay Space opted out — elevating questions concerning the potential to seize an correct image of the realm’s homelessness disaster.
“It’s unlucky,” mentioned Jennifer Friedenbach government director of the San Francisco-based Coalition on Homelessness.
Sometimes the rely is performed each two years, however issues went wonky in the course of the pandemic. Nervous about spreading the COVID-19 virus, Bay Space counties postponed the 2021 rely till 2022. Not desirous to rely two years in a row, San Francisco, Alameda and San Mateo counties have opted to conduct the subsequent census in 2024 — after which in 2026.
Alameda County determined to attend a yr “because of the intensive assets and staffing wanted to conduct the rely,” Katie Haverly, government director of EveryOneHome, which leads the rely, mentioned in an e mail.
Conversely, Santa Clara County determined to do the rely this yr and in 2025 — throwing them out of sync with a lot of the remainder of the Bay Space. The rely at all times has been achieved in odd-numbered years, and the county noticed “vital worth” in doing it this yr, mentioned Kathryn Kaminski, deputy director of the county’s Workplace of Supportive Housing.
Contra Costa County, one other outlier that counts yearly as a substitute of each different yr, additionally performed a 2023 rely.
The issue with Santa Clara County falling out of step with the remainder of the Bay Space is that homelessness is a regional situation, Friedenbach mentioned.
“The massive unfavorable on that's that you could’t examine how counties are doing,” she mentioned. “The rationale that it’s necessary to have the ability to examine in a regional space is as a result of there’s quite a lot of completely different insurance policies at play and it’s a great instrument to see if investments are working.”
For instance, homelessness elevated in every of the 5 Bay Space counties final yr — besides in San Francisco, the place it dropped 4%. Friedenbach credit that lower to the discharge of homelessness funds from the town’s Proposition C tax measure, resulting in a big growth of shelter and housing.
And unhoused residents usually transfer between the Bay Space counties, she mentioned. Low-income individuals who get priced out of San Francisco could find yourself homeless within the East Bay — a pattern that isn’t taken under consideration when counties conduct the rely in a silo.
The truth that the Bay Space counties seemingly didn’t speak to one another earlier than deciding on their homeless rely schedule is “very indicative of the necessity for way more coordination,” mentioned Jennifer Wolch, a UC Berkeley professor who makes a speciality of points surrounding homelessness. The Bay Space may do a greater job of tackling its disaster if it had a regional technique that allowed jurisdictions to pool their assets, she mentioned.
The biennial homeless rely, whereas not excellent, has lengthy been cited as a measure of traits throughout the Bay Space. The census depends on volunteers counting seen tents whereas it’s nonetheless darkish and persons are sleeping and never shifting round. However specialists say it's probably an undercount as a result of counters could miss hard-to-spot encampments or underestimate the variety of individuals dwelling in a tent.
Santa Clara County tallied greater than 10,000 unhoused individuals final yr — essentially the most of any of the 5 Bay Space counties and a 3% improve from 2019. The outcomes of Santa Clara County’s 2023 rely probably received’t be out there for a number of months.
Kaminski, with the Workplace of Supportive Housing, maintained that Santa Clara County’s rely will proceed to be helpful regardless that it’s now out of sync with a lot of the Bay Space.
“Whereas there is no such thing as a excellent method to measure the precise variety of individuals experiencing homelessness in any group, the (point-in-time) rely gives a constant technique for us to know traits in Santa Clara County over time,” she mentioned in an e mail. “This comparability of traits doesn't require every group to conduct the (point-in-time) rely on the similar time.”