Oaklandside reports that both municipal governments are looking for hundreds of volunteers to assist in head count of the local homeless population slated for next month.Volunteers will be tasked with fanning out throughout Alameda County to count every homeless person they see, whether or not they are unsheltered or are living in vehicles. Those interested in volunteering can sign up with the county or city as individuals or groups, and can specify what areas they want to canvas.
The Point In Time was done last year – after having been postponed in 2021 because of safety concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 9,700 homeless people were counted in Alameda County, with 5,055 of them living in Oakland.While the number of unhoused people living in Alameda County and Oakland had increased from the previous Point In Time totals from 2019, data showed that the rate of homelessness had slowed – in part, because of the number of emergency shelters that were created as a result of the pandemic.
Next year’s Point In Time should help governments determine if the decrease in homelessness has continued, or if it has increased due to the end of pandemic-related emergency shelters and expiring bans on evictions throughout Alameda County.The data from the headcount is considered essential to help local governments fund and design housing programs, as well as determining who needs services.
