ASR conducted Homeless Census and Surveys in several California counties and found that in 5 of 6 counties, surveys showed increases in the percentages of individuals who said they were homeless for the first time in their lives. San Francisco, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Monterey, and Sonoma counties showed increases in the percentages of individuals surveyed who were homeless for the first time; only Riverside County showed a decrease and Orange County data are still pending.

  

In Santa Clara County, 41% of individuals surveyed in 2009 said they were homeless for the first time, increasing to 48% in 2011. In San Francisco, 45% of survey respondents said they were homeless for the first time in 2009, increasing to 53% in 2011. This increase in first-time homelessness occurred despite increased federal funding for homeless prevention and rapid re-housing from the federal stimulus package.

  

Homelessness was up in four of the regions (Santa Cruz, Monterey, Sonoma, and Riverside) and showed tiny decreases in two counties (San Francisco and Santa Clara).  The largest increase in homelessness occurred in Riverside County with 3,366 individuals counted at the point in time count in 2009 increasing to 6,203 in a two day count in January 2011. San Francisco and Santa Clara counties showed decreases of less than 1% each.

For more information about the homeless census and surveys, please contact Samantha Green at 831-728-1356, or at Samantha@appliedsurveyresearch.org.

 Applied Survey Research partnered with Clark County Nevada to help them conduct their homeless count.  Clark County includes Las Vegas and is the 14th largest county in the United States. The count showed a large decrease in the number of people who were homeless from 13,338 individuals in January 2009 to 9,432 individuals counted in 2011, a decrease of nearly 30%. The point-in-time count over the two day period at the end of January was then used to estimate annual homeless counts. It is estimated that 43,294 individuals in Clark County Nevada will experience a period of homelessness in 2011, down from 52,458 people in 2009.

 

The point-in-time count is required by the federal government in order to secure continued funding for homeless services. The federal government also requires that the point-in-time count show comparisons between homeless individuals who are unsheltered (living on the street) versus those who have temporary shelter (such as emergency shelters, temporary housing or housing vouchers). Clark County saw an increase since 2009 in the number of people living on the street, from 3,027 in 2009 to 4,241 individuals in 2011. In other words, there was an overall decrease in the total number of homeless individuals counted between 2009 and 2011, but there was an increase in the number of individuals living on the street as compared to living in emergency shelters, temporary housing or with housing vouchers. This difference underscores that much of the federal stimulus money was directed across the nation at preventing homelessness (before people lost their housing), but there was less funding for people once they lost their homes and were on the street (a decrease in funding for temporary shelters). According to ASR's Samantha Green, "There was a large increase in federal funding to prevent people from losing their homes, or for people who had recently lost housing. But many shelters and local programs experienced budget and staff cuts as counties made difficult budget decisions."

California counties are facing huge federal and state budget cuts in almost all areas. That's why Stanislaus County is taking an entirely new approach to mental health services. The county's Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) is working to strengthen the entire community's capacity in the area of mental health. They are working to connect more individuals to networks in the community that already exist, to work with existing communities to help them to support the mental and behavioral health of their members, and to work with grantees to develop an outcomes based approach to their work.

 

Susan Brutschy and Kristin Ozawa of ASR are working closely with John Ott of Luminescence Consulting to provide technical assistance to BHRS and its grantees to develop these new methods to improve mental health outcomes in the community. John Ott recently prepared a report to the California Institute of Mental Health (CIMH) outlining ways to increase the capacity of local communities to support the mental health of its members, especially in light of budget cuts. John Ott argues that county departments, no matter how efficient and effective, can never serve all the people who struggle with mental health issues. It's important, therefore, to turn to existing networks in the community that are already helping to meet the needs of people with mental and behavioral health challenges and strengthen those existing networks.

 

John Ott is training the BHRS leadership staff and grantees to use Results Based Accountability (RBA) as a method to help build community and program capacity in the area of mental health. RBA begins with the outcomes that a community or program staff wants to achieve and works backwards to develop the appropriate means. ASR's Susan Brutschy and Kristin Ozawa are supporting the RBA work by offering technical assistance about data development, reporting, and using data to track improvements for individuals, programs, and communities. BHRS staff is also interested in including client perspectives in the work to improve community capacity around mental health. According to Omer Njajou, Research and Outcome Specialist at BHRS, "Nobody can define being better off for someone else or say if someone else is emotionally well. Only you can state whether you are better off, or emotionally healthy, and what that means to you."

 

For more information, please contact Kristin Ozawa at 408-247-8319 or Kristin@appliedsurveyresearch.org. 

 

ASR has been working with dozens of communities to improve community quality of life by following a community improvement method developed by ASR.  A critical piece of the community improvement cycle is to include a broad and diverse group of people in any community change efforts. ASR specializes in working with underserved and vulnerable populations such as low-income families, monolingual speakers, immigrants, seniors, youth, the homeless, families who have experienced domestic violence and child maltreatment, and individuals with disabilities. We believe that diversity must include a wide range of aspects such as race, ethnicity, language, economic differences, age, sexual orientation, immigration status, geography and a myriad of other differences that emerge within and between communities. ASR's work with diverse communities in community improvement efforts was featured in an article in a new book called "Diversity and Community Development: An intercultural approach." The book was published by the Council of Europe and the European Commission.

 

The book emerged out of an international conference that took place in the Netherlands about diversity and social cohesion. Susan Brutschy, President of ASR, was a featured speaker at the conference. The book includes articles about how cities around the world are trying to include new immigrants while building stronger communities. One article examines the Roma population, who frequently travel between the borders of Hungary and Serbia. Other cities and countries include London, Oslo, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, and Santa Cruz. Read the book here.