How Many In Your Backyard?

For the past three years, we have heard and read about numbers and numbers of people who are homeless. In 2005, Los Angeles said there were 90,000 homeless people. Two years later it became 73,000. San Francisco announced 15,000. New York 35,000.

After a while these dizzying numbers just became an abstract. Sometimes it is just good to count the number of people who are homeless in your area.

The Hollywood initiative, called Project Y!MBY (Yes! In My Backyard), did just that. They picked an area of about 5 square miles in the Hollywood area. What did they find?

In that small area of their neighborhood, 384 people were sleeping on the streets or in cars. Of that number, a third were youth. A team of local neighborhood groups—business, faith, council office, service providers, and outreach teams—spent the whole night last month counting people.

In our treks to work, we don’t always see these people hidden in the cracks of society. Sure, we see them on freeway off-ramps or in the downtown areas of our cities. But they are there.

So how many are in your backyard?

Here is the press release:

(Los Angeles/Hollywood)—A recent street count revealed 384 homeless individuals in Hollywood living on the streets. The one night count was conducted by Project Y!MBY (Yes! In My Back Yard) Hollywood, in partnership with PATH Partners, The Hollywood Entertainment District, The County of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Council Districts 13 and 4, LAPD, The Hollywood Homeless Youth Partnership (HYP), the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), as well as many other Hollywood volunteers and stakeholders.

The faces of homelessness in Hollywood are considerably different from the perceptions of the general public. Over one third of the population identified were homeless youth (persons less than 25 years of age).

"For the first time, we have worked to count and capture a snapshot of the men, women, youth, and children who are living on the streets of Hollywood,” says Council President Eric Garcetti. “This information will help us to more strategically and effectively provide the housing and services the homeless need to get off the streets so that we can end homelessness in Hollywood."

The one-day event relied on observation surveys (street counts) of homeless individuals. This method involved sending service providers, law enforcement, government representatives, business leaders, Faith communities and volunteers out to canvas five square miles of the Hollywood region to count the number of unsheltered homeless.

“Addressing homelessness is a major challenge for many communities,” says Joel John Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of PATH Partners. “Without understanding how many people are experiencing homelessness, we can only guess at what it will take to solve the problem. The significance of this snapshot is that it provides a starting point for which Hollywood can now address homelessness in the region."

Project Y!MBY Hollywood, a PATH Partners and Hollywood Homeless Youth (HYP) community mobilization initiative, is a local solution to ending homelessness by connecting people to existing care and resources. By mobilizing local community stakeholders, Project Y!MBY facilitates a collaborative approach to improve coordination of homeless services.

For more information about Project Y!MBY, visit www.epath.org/yimby.

(Pic from www.herhome.com)