Signal Hill and Long Beach will participate in the 2015 Homeless Count later this month, and both cities are seeking volunteers for the venture.
The biennial Homeless Count, required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), defines the scope of homelessness, both in the community and across the nation, and helps to determine existing resources, identify gaps, and highlight progress toward ending homelessness, according to the City of Long Beach.
“The homeless count is an extremely important part of the services we provide to combat homelessness and support our most vulnerable residents,” said Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia. “Participating in the homeless count is a great opportunity for people to perform a community service and learn about the issue of homelessness.”
Signal Hill
The City of Signal Hill will conduct its homeless count on Wednesday, Jan. 28 from 7:30pm to 10pm. Police department staff will drive through neighborhoods with volunteers to count and document homeless persons or makeshift shelters in the city.
To help volunteer for that city’s count, participants must pre-register with the Signal Hill Community Development Department. For more information, contact volunteer coordinator Ginny Hellerud at (562) 989-7340 or ghellerud@cityofsignalhill.org .
Long Beach
The City of Long Beach will conduct its homeless count on Thursday, Jan. 29. The Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services (Health Department) Homeless Services Division organizes the count. It is the lead agency for the Long Beach Continuum of Care, a local planning body that coordinates housing and services funding for homeless families and individuals.
Previous homeless counts in Long Beach have documented that from 2007 to 2013, the number of homeless/formerly homeless people off the street and in emergency shelters, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing has increased 50 percent, from 1,679 to 2508, according to the City.
This year, the count will include an intensive outreach to homeless veterans, in an effort to immediately link veterans to services, benefits and housing on the day of the count, according to the City. This additional mobilization is part of the National Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness in 2015.
The count process involves two distinct activities. The first is a residential-based count of all people living in emergency and transitional housing programs within Long Beach. The second activity is the street-count component, in which the city is divided into 47 GIS mapped segments. Teams of three to five individuals, composed of community volunteers, service providers and homeless program participants, canvass each specific segment to count and survey homeless people in each area. Each map segment takes between two and three hours to canvass.
On Jan. 29, teams will be assigned and deployed between 5am and 9am from the Multi-Service Center, located at 1301 W. 12th St.
Volunteers can assist in various ways:
• Community outreach: Recruit volunteers for the count and get the word out through flyers and social media. Host donation drives to collect items such as socks, travel-size hygiene products and pre-packaged snacks.
• Food donations for breakfast and lunch for count volunteers
• Multi-Service Center volunteer: Assist at the Multi-Service Center headquarters the day of the count to assist, organize and coordinate count volunteers.
• Street outreach: Canvas one of 47 map segments with a team of three to five people (led by homeless services provider staff) to complete surveys and provide resource information to those experiencing homelessness.
One-hour orientations for volunteers will be hosted at the Multi-Service Center. Volunteers need only attend one of the following orientation dates:
• Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 1pm and 6pm
• Wednesday, Jan. 14 at 1pm and 6pm
• Thursday, Jan. 15 at 1pm and 6pm
The Volunteer Form and Homeless Count Flyer is available at http://bit.ly/2015LBCount . Completed forms may be submitted to (562) 570-4066.
For more information about the Long Beach homeless count, contact Elsa Ramos, Multi-Service Center coordinator, at Elsa.Ramos@longbeach.gov or (562) 570-4588.
Sources: Cities of SH, LB
