Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) will conduct its annual count of homeless county residents at the end of January. CCHS’s Division of Health, Housing and Homeless Services (H3), its community partners and volunteers will document both sheltered and unsheltered people in the area who need permanent housing.
Residents say they have noted what they perceive as an uptick in the local homeless population as inclement weather forces some to seek shelter in more visible areas as encampments fill up. Others have posited that calamity in other parts of the state, notably the North Bay Fires and fires to our south, has put more people out on the street and seeking shelter.
The annual count will take place Jan. 24 with homeless people surveyed at locations across the county. Health Services officials say data from this effort help government, service providers and community advocates develop effective responses to the challenges facing local people who are experiencing homelessness.
Results will not be available for several weeks.
During the 2017 count, 1,607 people were identified as homeless in Contra Costa County.
For more information about the count and homeless services in the county, visit cchealth.org/homeless.
My husband found a gentleman sleeping in our pool house last month and after the initial shock wore off they talked a little. This man said he was from LA and that he came here because help is easier to get now that things are stretched so thin down south. He admitted to a drinking problem. He apologized. My husband gave him coffee. I felt like crap for weeks after that.
Temporary shelter. Feed them. Put those willing to work to work. Counseling for others and mental health care for those who need it.
1607??? In the whole county?? I think that’s low.
Maybe in the larger camps but there are many more out there.
The homeless break my heart. It’s a very complex problem, with no easy answers. 1607 is the number they counted, not the actual number. They’re in different places throughout the day – just like the rest of us.
My neighbor found a homeless guy sleeping in his RV that was being stored.
I find these reports interesting the towns that show “0” homeless. I know Lafayette had at least 2 homeless last year.
Walnut Creek needs to take count in its parking garages too.
Walnut Creek has more homeless/ street people this year than last, and that year was more than the year before too.
The homeless need a hand up, not a handout. I don’t think anyone is homeless by choice, they’re homeless by circumstance. It could happen to anyone, and most homeless are situational, for a short period. The chronically homeless – substance abuse and mental health issues. Street life is a subculture. We want housing for them, but it’s not what they want. I’ve known homeless people who have been housed (by churches – for free) and they return to the streets because they miss their friends. Very sad.
Sorry but I think that is way low
@Kim – Don’t be sorry.
Pretty cold out there right now.
We haven’t been here (WC) that long but I can’t remember ever seeing it like this. The panhandling is almost as bad as San Francisco in places and we’re just waiting for one of those campfires to turn into a larger incident.
Without buy in from the people you are trying to help you will be doomed to shoveling uphill. We frequently volunteer to assist the truly needy — families, people with illnesses —- and would like to see more done to help people of this type rather than those who would prefer to be out on the street drinking or shooting up with their friends.
You’ve got your homeless, your LaRouche people, I guess they are filling in for the krishnas, and your anti-Hilaries, anti-Obamas on the street. It’s getting hard to be apathetic out there, though I try. I draw strength from my comrades, the regular Joe and Jane. Jane scored 290 the other night. Congratulations! They are not apathetic so much as wanting to be the best bowlers that they can be. Question: If the President of the United States is indebted financially and also subject to blackmail for indiscreet/illegal behavior to a formidable foreign adversary, does it make a sound?
Thats a very low number. I think the number they come up with will be low unless they factor in the people camping out in more remote locations.
That’s low