BART to Retire Legacy Trains in Public Ceremony April 20
By Magaly Muñoz
Oakland, along with other cities in Alameda County, conducted their biennial ‘Point In Time’ census count on Feb. 1 to gain a thorough understanding of the size and dispersion of the homeless population in the region.
The Point In Time (PIT) count is federally required by the Housing and Urban Development Department as a requirement to receive funding and resources to tackle homelessness in the area.
David Modersbach, Grants Manager of Alameda County Health Care for the Homeless program, said that the methodology this time around was different, as this count had a much more personal “lived experience” aspect that previous counts did not have.
In 2022, the county relied more on statistical extrapolation and assumptions, but this year’s survey questionnaires allowed for details on substance abuse issues, how long someone has been living without proper housing, what resources people are in need of and much more.
“[The PIT count is] a critical opportunity for the county, Continuum of Care, and cities to understand the magnitude of homelessness in Alameda County. [The count] enables us to better allocate resources and implement effective programs to tackle this issue head-on in a compassionate and inclusive way,” Modersbach said.
St. Mary’s Center was one of the many meeting hubs across the county that hosted volunteers and community officials the morning of the count. The organization has been deeply involved in the effort to provide resources for unhoused people and others in need.
St. Mary’s is a nonprofit in West Oakland that helps seniors and preschool families with food and housing. Last year, the organization helped about 50 seniors find housing after they had fallen on hard times.
Sharon Cornu, executive director of St. Mary’s, said a lot of the older couples and individuals that come into the center have borne the brunt of the skyrocketing cost of living in the Bay Area. The most recent influx of seniors St. Mary’s has seen coming in for help has been made up of people who were evicted when the COVID-19-related moratorium on rent payment ended.
“Seniors are the fastest growing segment of the unhoused and the incredibly high cost of housing is driving them to the streets,” Cornu said.
Among the volunteers were workers with Operation Dignity, a nonprofit organization that helps veterans and those living on the street find shelter, transitional housing and supportive services.
“These are our stomping grounds,” Ivan Magana, program manager for Operation Dignity said.
Magana stated that his team was extremely familiar with the people residing in the encampments they were conducting the count in since Operation Dignity made many visits to these areas while doing community outreach. He said they had even informed some of the unhoused people they knew about the count a few days prior so they would not be alarmed when the enumerators showed up early in the morning to conduct the count.
Not everyone got the memo though, as the volunteers encountered an almost violent situation around the 6 a.m. when a young woman living in a bus yelled at the Operation Dignity workers to leave her alone.
Luckily, the three-year experience Mangana has working with Operation Dignity and his knowledge of therapeutic health services, equipped him with the techniques needed to deescalate the tension. The woman soon realized who the volunteers were and apologized, he said.
Another volunteer and Operation Dignity worker, Yolanda Kirkpatrick, noted that she was initially hesitant because of the early schedule. She felt the time deterred others from participating, too.
Her prediction would come true as the hours went on and they continued to walk along 24th St in downtown Oakland and there was very little activity on the streets.
The volunteers shared similar sentiments. Although the community the people they were engaging for the count and surveys encounter tend to distrust outsiders, the PIT count was necessary for the city to receive the appropriate level of federal funds to address a crisis that is spiraling out of control in California.
A full analysis and report of the count will be made available in the summer.
