Is Using Homeless People To Count The Homeless Effective?

You probably didn't notice, but this past week over a thousand people were dispatched to count the homeless in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority spent over $800,000 to put on this every other year activity.

The federal agency, HUD, is mandating that all jurisdictions who want federal funding for the homeless have to count their homeless population. Two years ago, the number was nearly 90,000 homeless.

The Vibes Watch bloggers actually volunteered for the effort. They answer the question, "How certain are you of the legitimacy of the count?"

Here's what they say...
_________

To answer the question quite frankly, I'm *not* certain of the legitimacy of the count. I think the fact that LAHSA is relying so heavily on the homeless to count themselves is a major problem. At the location I was dispatched from on Tuesday night, paid counters (who, again, were by and large homeless people) outnumbered unpaid volunteers by about 5-to-1. And to be honest, the paid counters seemed significantly more interested in getting paid ($10 per hour in *cash*, remember) than in providing civic service.

That's not to say that I blame 'em. If I were homeless, I too would just want the cash. But what was to stop these small teams of paid counters (two or three per census tract) from taking their clipboard, map and tally sheet to the closest Taco Bell, hanging out, jotting down some imaginary numbers, and then returning several hours later (at the latest time possible, of course, in order to maximize the payoff)? Nothing, that's what, except for their own sense of self-motivation and personal responsibility. Well that's hunky dory, in theory, but if those homeless folks had access currently to self-motivation and personal responsibility, they wouldn't be homeless folks.
__________

So will the number counting be effective? Especially, after spending over $800,000? I wrote an op-ed piece two years, after the first homeless count. I called it a Homeless Numbers Game. Because the reality is, the politics with these numbers is extraordinary.

So the question of whether homeless people will effectively count homeless people is actually moot. The question to really ask is this... Since the final tally will be simply an estimate, will city and county officials decide L.A. is getting better (less homeless), getting worse (more homeless), or just more of the same? It's a highly political decision.

After the County has spent over $100 million to address homelessness, LAHSA spends $60 million per year, and the City of L.A. is investing millions on Permanent Supportive Housing, my guess is that the final number will be lower. To show the public that things are getting better, after the millions and millions of dollars invested.

Let's wait and see...