Burlingame Homeless Number Continues to Drop

The number of homeless people is on the rise in San Mateo County, according to census data released Thursday by the county's Human Services Agency. However, Burlingame's homeless number continued to fall.

Nearly 2,150 people were counted among the homeless population on
Jan. 26, when hundreds of volunteers fanned across the county to check how
many people were living on the streets, in vehicles or in camps, according to
the Human Services Agency.

Of those counted, 1,162 were unsheltered, which included those in vehicles or camps. The remaining 987 people lived in emergency shelters, jails or hospitals, or participated in motel voucher programs.

The findings are representative of an annual estimate of a little more than 6,700 people who are homeless, officials said.

"In light of the economy and the lack of employment, it's not surprising to see a rise in homeless numbers," said Wendy Goldberg, manager of the agency's Center on Homelessness.

The last census was completed in 2009, and the numbers of people without homes released today are 17 percent higher than those two years ago.

“Almost all of them want to work, but they don’t have the money, clothes or home to get started,” said Supervisor Don Horsley. He and Board of Supervisors President Carole Groom are the chairs of HOPE, (Housing Our People Effectively), the inter-agency council that combines the efforts of many housing non-profits.

This is how county homeless numbers broke down:

The typical homeless person in San Mateo County is an unsheltered single white male with at least one disability. He is unemployed and his primary barriers to employment are a lack of an address and the disability, said Goldberg.

In Burlingame, the number of unsheltered homeless people dropped from 20 in 2007 to 8 in 2009 and to 3 this year.

Twelve percent of the homeless in the county are veterans, lower than the national estimate of 19 percent up to 40 percent, according to the survey.

Unlike the US Census, which sends neatly packaged forms to your doorstep, counting the homeless is an entirely more complex process.

At 6 a.m. on January 26, 2011, 217 volunteers along with county officials were combing every street in San Mateo County to count the number of homeless people on the streets, in vehicles and various encampments. The snapshot was used to estimate a larger annual number of 6,737 people who will at one point be homeless this year. 

Because the homeless are transient, their home city is marked as the one that the shelter or bedding is located in. However, because many live on private property like storage sheds or garages, it is difficult to explicitly identify if people are living in a certain location, Goldberg said. There are also many people who temporarily reside in friends’ or family’s homes.

The Center on Homelessness even conducts a Hidden Homeless Study, a more quality study that found that 91 percent of the 254 interviewed lived in countable places like shelters, streets and cars. Nine percent livened in parking garages, bus stations, backyards and other private property.

Despite the increase in homelessness, Goldberg said there was a decrease in chronically homeless people. The number of those living on the street has gone down and the census counters only identified two homeless families living on the streets.

 Intervention to End Homelessness

Supervisors Groom and Horsley started the HOPE inter-agency council to combine the efforts of numerous housing organizations that work to help house the homeless.

“Housing, housing, housing,” Goldberg said. The supervisors agreed that the primary way to end homelessness was to provide a variety of affordable housing options.

HOPE and its partner organizations work to see that veterans and disabled residents are receiving the benefits they’re entitled to. Of the disabled, only 13 percent were receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits and only 14 percent were receiving Medi-Cal or Medicare.

“We want to end homelessness amongst veterans in the next five years,” Horsley said. The county is working closely with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The agency works intensely with non-profits whose clients have very high levels of homelessness, or are chronically homeless, by working with alcohol and drug treatment and the criminal justice system.

Every year, the county receives approximately $5.7 million from the federal government to address homeless issues, Goldberg estimated.

The total amount the county spends annually could not be immediately determined because multiple departments, like human services, mental health and Veterans affairs all contribute to homeless services.

Groom called attention to projects like the Vendome Hotel in San Mateo that allots units for homeless people.

“It helps people like Michelle, who was living in the parking lot of Draeger’s. At first she was absolutely petrified because she had never had a room before and hadn’t bathed in a real bathroom in years,” Groom said. “It took good old-fashioned social work to help her.”

“These people are our citizens,” Horsley said. “They are long-time residents of the county and we want to assist them.”

--Bay City News Contributed to this report.