Though most homeless people approached in a recent survey said they want help, they also said they aren’t getting access to it, according to a new report from the OC Office of Care Coordination.
More than 600 people were asked about their living situation, community ties and their needs in the 76-question survey developed for the county agency by its Commission to End Homelessness and the nonprofit City Net.
Of the survey’s 642 respondents, 31 were at risk of homelessness and 25 were staying in emergency shelters, transitional housing or had other temporary arrangements, but 586 were experiencing “unsheltered homelessness.”
When leaders looked at the results of the last state-required counting of people living on the streets in 2022, called a point-in-time count, it left many wondering why as the homeless population was increasing, the county’s resources weren’t being utilized at the same rate.
So surveyors were sent back out in May with more questions, said Doug Becht, director of the OC Office of Care Coordination. “Our main focus was asking questions around why people aren’t currently utilizing services here in Orange County.”
There has been an investment in shelters and housing in the county and large encampments, like the ones that had grown along the Santa Ana riverbed and at the Civic Center, are no longer being seen. Homelessness in OC has changed in the last seven or eight years, Becht said.
“The profile of individuals that are experiencing homelessness on our streets has changed. And this survey helps us understand that change better and how our services need to change for them,” Becht said.
“We thought this would be a good opportunity to go out and ask folks why they’re not utilizing services,” he said, “for the goal of understanding how we shape our system to ensure that more people are interested in coming off the street and using the services we have to offer.”
More than half of respondents said they…
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