Anonymous
(stock photo)
Source: County of Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara County, the Santa Maria/Santa Barbara County Continuum of Care (CoC), and the Northern Santa Barbara County United Way invite volunteers to participate in the countywide 2020 Homeless Point-In-Time Count from 5:30-8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, January 29, 2020. The Point-In-Time Count is the annual count of individuals and families experiencing homelessness on a given day.
Teams of volunteers and experts will canvas assigned routes throughout the county and will briefly document who is experiencing homelessness. This information is used to plan local homeless assistance systems and raise public awareness. Volunteers will be trained to help count on the survey day. To volunteer, please sign up at www.LiveUnitedSBC.org. Additional training information will be posted on the website.
“We can’t do this without volunteers,” said Emily Allen, Director of Homeless and Veteran Impact Initiatives for the United Way Home for Good Santa Barbara County. “Santa Barbara County residents have proven they know that everyone in this community counts.”
Point-In-Time Count Trainings – Learn about this year’s Count and how to get involved:
- Carpinteria/Summerland: 6-7:30 p.m. Thurs., January 23
- Goleta: Wednesday, 6-7:30 p.m. Wed., January 15
- Isla Vista: Tuesday, 6-7:30 p.m. Tues., January 21
- Lompoc: 6-7:30 p.m. Thurs., January 16
- Santa Barbara: 9:30-11 a.m. Sat., January 11; and 6-7:30 p.m. Wed., January 22
- Santa Maria: noon-1:30 p.m. Thurs., January 16
The Continuum of Care (CoC) Program is designed to promote communitywide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness; provide funding for efforts by nonprofit providers, and State and local governments to quickly rehouse homeless individuals and families while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused to homeless individuals, families, and communities by homelessness; promote access to and effect utilization of mainstream programs by homeless individuals and families; and optimize self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
United Way is a community of donors, advocates, volunteers, and partners who fight for the health, education, and financial stability of every person in every community. Our Home For Good Santa Barbara County program supports a Coordinated Entry System, a no-wrong door, countywide system that engages and connects individuals and families experiencing homelessness to the optimal resources for their needs. We believe that everyone deserves a safe place to call home for good.
All are welcome; please go to www.LiveUnitedSBC.org and let us know you plan to participate.
Of course there will be an undercount. How else can they justify the well-paid Homeless Inc crowd is worth their grants and bonuses.
When will we stop calling this population of street vagrants “homeless”. Triage them into the (1) have nots, (2) the can nots and the (3) will nots. Or don’t even bother. Have nots already have access to our very generous social support and welfare system. The can nots need to be referred to public guardians office for placement in state care sanitariums funded by the billions already raised by the MHSA. The will nots just need to be gone. By sundown. Designate this city as a 100% no-camping zone. Process any applicants through the existing shelter and support services. Will nots simply have to go somewhere else. We have no room for their nonsense.
Sounds like a dangerous job. Better get your shots up to date and carry mace.
How will this number be accurate. Are they going to go into every encampment? Are they going to count all the ones who refuse to them? It will almost certainly be undercounted. We need to come up with actual solutions to dealing with the homeless. Simply giving them housing will do nothing. Majority of the homeless need to be institutionalized or some sort of supervised living. Chronically homeless people are chronically homeless due to mentally illnesss or drug addiction. These people cannot take care of themselves. This number will only be used to determine how many sleeping bags and food vouchers they need to order to hand out for free.
AN 03, 2020 11:15 AM. Well stated.
Will this break down findings into different categories of homeless people? They are not all the same. There are many who actually choose to be homeless (urban “travelers”). Any assistance should be based on need, not just the fact they’re currently homeless.
11:15 and others: Actually providing the homeless with housing is the most effective solution to the problem. Imagine that. Actually the majority of homeless people are not in need of involuntary institutionalization. About 40% have some sort of mental health issue but they are not incapable of caring for themselves if simple resources are available to them. And, actually, some of the homeless should be institutionalized. This is a form of housing too. And to 4:19 pm, this fearmongering stuff is getting to be pretty old hat. What evidence do you have that homeless people present a more than average risk of violence to the general public? Actually, housed people commit the most acts of violence (against their cohabitants by and large). Unfortunately, “the count” is just another bureaucratic step to pretend to be doing something. We know that there is not enough to care for all the needy, why use some of what is available to count who won’t be helped!? Better to go out and serve someone’s needs.
The number counted justifies applications for government funding which keeps the government workers safe in their desk jobs doing studies. Follow the money.
Santa Barbara needs to institute some new ordinances and then follow through with enforcement. No panhandling (signs or otherwise), no camping, no fires, no sleeping in doorways, on sidewalks, in the parks and no hanging out in the parks after dark. (The parks are “closed” at sunset, and yet the bums and winos still sleeping in the parks.) And most definitely NO stealing shopping carts allowed. I grew up here. It wouldn’t be terrible for Santa Barbara to have a reputation for not tolerating illegal activity. Make this a place where the vagrants, transients, unsheltered, unwashed are UNwelcome. SBPD needs to enforce no urinating and no defecating in public. Last week I saw some dude standing in Alameda Park West with his pants down around his ankles, toilet paper in hand, preparing to wipe his ass in full view of traffic . Santa Barbara needs to take a hard stance and reclaim its charm and cleanliness.
1:00 pm: The laws you suggest we enact are generally in place already. Please try and get information before you assume something simpley because it is convenient to your theories. No homeless person is excused from legal prosecution for lighting fires in non-fire areas for example. Some anti-homeless laws are not enforced because the courts recognize that sleeping somewhere is a basic human right and you cannot criminalize such an act when the accused is without alternatives. This stuff is not so simple and people are trying to solve the problem. Such efforts are hindered by the angry and judgmental comments of folks like you.
Wow!..you guys are SO spot-on that it’s eerie.
You do NOT want to be out here counting homeless folks…
The places one would find us, are rife with every creepy, sticky, gooey & seeping rusty needle nightmare you can imagine.
Whomever stated; “Let the pros do it”..is right.
Houses are available in this country for anyone who wants one. Just not where they want one.
Get the homeless to count themselves. They know what’s up, who’s new, who’s from out of the area, who’s f**ed up, who’s sober, who’s a danger, etc… Also, “if you build it, they will come” applies here. If you give it freely, they will come. The more we provide freely for this segment of the population, the more it increases in any given area where freebies are provided. Water always runs downhill. The only way to effectively solve it is to have contained borders (be it a building, a city, state or a country) where any given part of this needy population can’t newly arrive from other places, and then we can all work together to solve the issues of that contained local population in need. But when “homeless” can freely travel to SB from other areas and receive services, be it from L.A., Tuscon, Detroit , Haiti or Sierra Leone, they will obviously and increasingly pick SANTA BARBARA, all other things being equal!!! Duh! They might be homeless, but they can be clever, too.
@088 seems you have a huge issue with people that have less than you do and an issue with people that are mentally unstable. That’s just sad….
just wait…you or a family member will be there one day. some of these comments are awful. these are people just liek you and me. they are already down on their luck, so now you’ld be willing to kick them while they are down? how about lending a hand to a fellow human being…much easier.
The residents of the South Coast are pretty much over this issue and the intentional reference to street vagrants as “homeless”. I , and I am sure many, would, in fact, be open to helping the truly needy LOCALS who have jobs and responsibilities that , due to a particular situation, find themselves “homeless”… The problem lies with “Homeless Inc.” trying to shove the idea down our (residents) throats that vagrants should be lumped into the “Homeless” description… Most a meth-head-alcoholic- opportuntists that stay in any town that will put them up and feed them.
@Zerohawk none of have nothing against people who have less than us. A lot of us grew up with not a lot of stuff either. Being poor doesn’t make you into a vagrant. These people need to be institutionalized because they cannot take care of themselves. They are not going to accept the help themselves because they do not have the mental capacity or refuse to do so to continue living their rule free life.
@ bosco- I live downtown and walk ALL over down town and the harbor district. Please tell me/us where the screaming people are, where is the urinating crazy guy? Where are the piles of trash on the side walk? I DO agree with the need of a permanent solution. You point out they are mentally ill. We have no good health care system for them. The state hospitals closed down and pushed them out. But still, i really want to know where all of this mayhem is that you report. I have to little girls and a 13 y/o son. 4 of us are walkers and are always out and about. We have never, and I mean never seen this downtown. We are downtown walking around and exploring daily, nightly, weekends,etc. We also walk and bike all over the beaches and harbor district. I see over entitled dog owners as more of a problem than a handful of homeless people. Why? Those animals use state street plants as their toilet. I have never seen some homeless dude peeing in broad daylight. I’m 49 and have been a local since 1982, downtown.