Homeless count in Placer County finds hundreds living outdoors in Sierra foothills

Homeless numbers in Placer County have remained virtually unchanged in the past two years, according to a new report released this week.

A total of 750 individuals experience homelessness on any given night in Placer county, according to a federally mandated point-in-time homeless count released Thursday. In 2020, the last time the count was conducted using the same method, officials counted 744 unhoused people.

Given the marginal increase in the homeless count despite population growth throughout the county, Placer’s rates of homelessness has slightly decreased in the two-year period since the last count, according to Placer department of Health and Human Services director Rob Oldham.

The Placer County numbers were released days after Sacramento County published its report which found that the county’s homeless population had doubled in three years, surpassing that of San Francisco.

“Given the huge surge that we’re seeing in the region and across the state, we’re not celebrating too much, but I think it’s reinforcing some of the investments that we’ve made over the years — tough investments, sometimes,” Oldham said.

Placer homeless from foothills

Conducted by the Homeless Resource Council of the Sierras, the point in time count estimates the number of both sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness in Placer County on a single night.

Typically, the point in time count is viewed as an undercount of the total homeless population in the county, according to the Placer County website, because many individuals move in and out of homelessness over the course of the year.

The 2022 count tallied 408 unsheltered and 342 sheltered individuals in the county. Of these, 648 were adults over the age of 24, 43 were youth between the ages of 18 to 24 and 59 were children under the age of 18.

Of the adults who responded to the in-depth survey questions in the census, 34% reported chronic homelessness, 68% of respondents had lived in the county for at least a year before they became homeless, and 48% of those people had lived in Placer County for more than five years.

New housing options

The results of the point in time count come amid Placer County’s continued efforts to curb homelessness in the community.

“That we haven’t seen the dramatic increase in homelessness that other communities have in the past few years shows the value of the collective investments we’ve made in preventing and addressing it,” said Placer County Board of Supervisors Chair and District 5 Supervisor Cindy Gustafson in a news release from the county.

Placer’s Health and Human Services department has focused recently on providing emergency support for residents facing pandemic-related evictions through rent and utility patients. The county also received a grant to convert a Roseville hotel into 82 new units of permanent housing.

In the past three months, the homeless population at the Placer County Government Center in Auburn has declined from 107 individuals to approximately 23, according to the release, as the county has piloted a daytime service center to address the homeless population’s needs.

‘It’s still really challenging’

Going forward, Oldham also emphasized the importance of the county investing in treatment of mental health challenges and substance use disorders, issues which he said are driving much of the increase in homelessness across the state.

“It’s still really challenging, and we still have encampments like everyone else,” Oldham said. “I think there’s some in our community who question whether these numbers are right because we do see a lot more visibility of homelessness in certain areas.”

Meaningfully addressing the issue of homelessness, Oldham said, requires not only supporting those experiencing homelessness but also preventing people from becoming homeless in the first place.

“It’s not just about providing services to people who are already experiencing homelessness, but also preventing folks from ever going into homelessness,” Oldham said. “This is our once-a-year time to really look at the data… what we really are committed to doing here is actually looking at the data and prevention and intervention services that are better informed by what the data is showing.”

This story was originally published July 5, 2022 at 5:00 AM.