City May Not Conduct 2021 Homeless Count Due to COVID-19 Risks

The director of the city’s housing department told Pasadena Now on Tuesday that the city may not conduct its annual homeless count due to the current pandemic. 

Across the region, cities take their annual count in January, but this year the Department of Housing and Urban Development is giving jurisdictions the option not to count due to COVID-19.

“It’s for the safety of those doing the count and those being counted,” said William Huang. “We have not made our decision yet.” 

The snapshot in time is used for a comparison to previous years for trends according to Huang. However this year the date would not be of much use as a comparative because it would have an asterisk due to the virus. 

HUD is also allowing jurisdictions the option to modify the methodology of the count this year.

Results from the homeless count are included in the annual funding application to HUD and serves as the main source of data used by state and federal government entities to determine funding allocations and resources the city receives for homeless services.

Agencies asking for an exemption are being asked to explain what other efforts they will take to understand the needs of unsheltered homeless individuals in their communities.

To collect the figures for the “unsheltered” count, community volunteers and professional outreach teams survey people sleeping outdoors, on the street, in parks and vehicles, and other areas not meant for human habitation. 

The “sheltered” count, on the other hand, uses client-level data entered into the database used by homeless service providers to collect information on people who are staying in temporary shelter locations, including congregate emergency shelters, transitional housing, and hotels or motels. 

People who are living doubled-up with family or friends or who are couch surfing are not included in the count, as the HUD considers these individuals to be at-risk of homelessness and not literally homeless. 

The count serves as a snapshot in time of people experiencing homelessness in Pasadena. The data is reported to HUD.  While jurisdictions that receive federal funding are only required to conduct a homeless count of people experiencing homelessness every other year, HUD also strongly encourages jurisdictions to conduct a count every year during the last ten days in January.

The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to support a request  to postpone the L.A. County count. 

Pasadena 2020 count remained largely unchanged from figures during the 2019 homeless count.

Volunteers counted 527 people on Jan. 21 and 22. In 2019 542 people were counted.  

“It’s quite possible most jurisdictions won’t do it,” Huang said.