Riverside County homeless count begins
In 2017, Riverside County saw its first increase in homelessness in six years. Palm Springs saw a particularly noticeable spike, with a 66 percent increase from 2016 to 2017. These numbers are readily at the public’s fingertips thanks to the annual Point-In-Time (PIT) Homeless Count and Survey, which will be taking place in its 2018 iteration on Tuesday.
The survey is volunteer-powered and facilitated by Riverside County. The Palm Springs survey will take place from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday. The Indio survey will take place from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Volunteers for Palm Springs will gather at the City’s Police Department’s Training Center at 200 S. Civic Drive. Indio’s deployment site will be at Martha’s Village and Kitchen at 83791 Date Ave.
The (PIT) Homeless Count and Survey gauges the unsheltered homeless population in the region, while a separate count will be conducted to collect data on the sheltered homeless population (i.e. individuals in emergency shelters and transitional housing).
“The goal is to identify how many individuals are homeless on a given day so that the County has the most current information in order to better understand the factors surrounding their housing crisis and accomplish local and federal goals toward ending homelessness,” according to a Palm Springs city news release.
As of last year’s count, there were 2,413 unsheltered homeless individuals living in Riverside County, with nearly 500 living in the Coachella Valley.
In June, Roy’s Desert Resource Center, one of the region’s most active homeless shelters, closed its doors for good. This contributed to creating a services vacuum for local homeless, but other housing programs have stepped up to the plate in Roy’s stead. In the past six months, Path of Life Ministries, a Riverside-based housing program contracted by the Coachella Valley, managed to find permanent living situations for 30 local homeless individuals.
