"In the first moments of daylight on Thursday, a trio of volunteers peeked into the busted-out windows of an old transit bus on Oakland's San Pablo Avenue. They wondered: Was someone living in there? That was the question asked by more than a thousand volunteers in Alameda County on Thursday, who took to the streets and shelters to count as many unhoused people as they could find."
"Elected officials tend to take heat from critics when tallies show a rise in homelessness or they celebrate declines. Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced that the state saw a 9% decline in homelessness last year and claimed the state is breaking cycles of homelessness that took decades to create. In June, Contra Costa County reported a 26% drop, which officials attributed to beefed-up rent assistance and more shelter and permanent housing."
More than a thousand volunteers in Alameda County carried out a federally required point-in-time count to locate people sleeping in cars, RVs, tents, shelters and sidewalks. The previous tally recorded 9,450 unhoused people, up from 8,022 in 2019. Volunteers encountered abandoned buses, litter, human waste and quiet tent camps while offering gift cards and toiletry kits to people who did not respond. Officials and nonprofit representatives said counts are imperfect but provide important data to inform programs aimed at preventing homelessness and re-housing people. Neighboring counties will conduct their own counts soon, and officials cite various factors for recent changes in numbers.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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