Volunteers needed for 2023 Riverside County point-in-time homeless count in January
More than 700 volunteers from community-based organizations, churches and other groups are needed for the 2023 Riverside County point-in-time homeless count, which will take place in communities throughout the county.
The general point-in-time count is scheduled for 5:30 to 9:30 a.m. Jan. 25, while the youth count is scheduled for Jan. 25 through 27.
The count is required by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in order for the county and cities to receive federal funding, as well as access state funds that are based on point-in-time counts. It provides a snapshot of how many homeless individuals are in a community in one given night and helps identify subpopulations, such as veterans, seniors and youth.
Training is required prior to the count. Volunteers must also have a smartphone or tablet to conduct the survey, be able to walk up to two hours and be 18 or older. Volunteers ages 16 and 17 are allowed, but must be accompanied by an adult.
Those interested in participating can register at rivcohhpws.org/homeless-point-time-pit-count
Results from the 2022 Riverside County point-in-time count, which was conducted Feb. 23-25 and included more than 625 volunteers, identified a total of 3,316 people experiencing homelessness throughout Riverside County. That represented a 15% increase in the county’s total homeless population compared to 2020 survey results.
The count also revealed that the number of people lacking any form of shelter was down 8% compared to 2020 results, but that there was a 22% increase in homeless seniors (those 62 and older) and an increase of 83% of families with children. Heidi Marshall, director of the county’s Housing, Homelessness Prevention and Workforce Solutions Department, said in a previous interview with The Desert Sun those figures were "alarming," especially among the senior population.
"The fact that our current state of the economy is what it is, we were surprised, quite frankly, to not see a much more dramatic increase," Marshall said. "But I think that these figures are indicative of what happens when you have the perfect storm: the historic inflation, the rent increases that are really dramatic in our county and then the lowest vacancy rates. All of that plays into, and mostly affects, folks on a fixed income."
District 4, which includes the Coachella Valley, had the highest number of unsheltered people, with just over a third of the 1,980 people identified in the count.
Palm Springs, with a total population of roughly 44,500, had the second-highest number of unsheltered people countywide, with 222, trailing only the city of Riverside, which sits in districts 1 and 2 and has a population of roughly 315,000.
Indio, which also lies in the county's fourth supervisorial district, had the fourth-highest number of unsheltered people, according to the results.
Here are the full results for the nine Coachella Valley cities from the 2022 homeless point-in-time count:
Cathedral City: 61 unsheltered (up 39% from 2020); 12 sheltered
Coachella: 74 unsheltered (down 5% from 2020); 0 sheltered
Desert Hot Springs: 48 unsheltered (down 29% from 2020); 15 sheltered
Indian Wells: 0 unsheltered (down 100% from 2020); 0 sheltered
Indio: 105 unsheltered (up 27% from 2020); 322 sheltered
La Quinta: 7 unsheltered (up 133% from 2020); 0 sheltered
Palm Desert: 26 unsheltered (up 44% from 2020); 0 sheltered
Palm Springs: 222 unsheltered (up 18% from 2020); 54 sheltered
Rancho Mirage: 3 unsheltered (down 75% from 2020); 0 sheltered
Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Volunteers needed for Riverside County point-in-time homeless count
