HOMELESS STUDENTS DOUBLE IN NUMBER - in CALIFORNIA ONE CHILD IN TWENTY IS A HOMELESS STUDENT

WASHINGTON POST - HOMELESS STUDENTS DOUBLE

EXCERPT  But California’s population of homeless children fell sharply in the aftermath of the recession in 2009-2010 and then rose more gradually until 2013 before spiking to a new height in 2014, according to the federal data. Student homelessness is also more prevalent there than in almost any other state: Nearly 1 in 20 children in California experienced homelessness in the 2013-2014 school year.   ...

The latest homeless count, an 8 percent increase over the 2012-2013 school year, is a sign that many families continue to struggle financially even as the economy recovers from the housing collapse of 2008. And it offers a glimpse of the growing challenges that public schools face nationwide as they seek to educate an increasing number of low-income children.

The impact is profound on public schools , which struggle to try to address the needs of homeless children. Teachers often find themselves working not only to help children learn but also to clothe them, keep them clean and counsel them through problems — including stress and trauma — that interfere with classroom progress.

KERN COUNTY CALIFORNIA - HOMELESS COUNT SHOWS DECREASE

BAKERSFIELDNOW - KERN COUNTY HOMELESS CENSUS  There is only one homeless shelter in Kern County...  the stats since 2007 are impressive but there are lots of homeless children in Kern,

This year, 953 individuals were determined to be homeless, which is a 4 percent decline from 2014 and a 38 percent decline since 2007. ...   lot of times homelessness ... there is a cycle of homelessness. We see a lot of families that will say I was homeless as a child," said Lollar.

Currently, there is only one homeless shelter in Kern County, the Bakersfield Homeless Center.

"It's a very large shelter, but we need more. We need more shelters," said Lollar.

The census showed that in shelters people stay homeless for a shorter amount of time. In shelters, the length of time a person stays homeless is an average of 17 months, versus 29 months. Lollar said in shelters people can get job training, get enrolled in school, and get healthy.

HOMELESS COUNT 2015 (CENSUS) IN LA THE NEXT THREE DAYS : DO YOU WANT TO BE COUNTED?

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-homeless-count-los-angeles-20150112-story.html  full story

Three nights and thousands of homeless to be counted on L.A. County's streets

Some Excerpts:
 

"In teams of two to four, volunteers will walk the streets looking for homeless individuals as well as signs of encampments — a makeshift tent, a vehicle with something covering the windows, maybe an item of clothing. Volunteer counters don't knock on windows or peer under tent flaps. They don't talk to the people they find; they record only what they see. They are trained before they go out and are encouraged to stop if they feel unsafe. In some areas, an undercover law enforcement officer may be assigned to a team....

On the nights of the count, officials will also take a tally of people staying at shelters. And, importantly, they will send professional outreach workers into the streets over several weeks — starting Tuesday — to interview more than 4,000 homeless people and compile demographic data on them...This year, outreach workers will ask a wide range of questions that go well beyond age and ethnicity and include everything from gender identity to disabilities and medical conditions. Homeless people will be asked whether they were victims of domestic violence or whether they've served time in prison. If they're veterans, what wars did they fight in? What government services or benefits do they receive? Have they been denied a shelter bed and if so, why? How did they lose their housing?

 n recent years, the count has shown that while the overall number of homeless hasn't changed much — in 2013 the total number counted on the streets and in shelters was 39,463 — there have been significant demographic changes. Family homelessness was down between 2011 and 2013. So was veteran homelessness, apparently thanks to hard work by non-profits, the county and the federal government. When homeless authority officials noticed in the last count that more homeless youths than expected were found in the Antelope Valley and South L.A., they worked on finding service providers with expertise in dealing with young people who could go to those areas.

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YOU MAY NOT WANT TO BE COUNTED, recorded as homeless, because your name will become part of a public record. Maybe, if you aren't asking anyone for any help, or if you've reached out for help and not gotten any, you would rather have your privacy.

ONE THING WE KNOW FOR SURE IS THAT THE COUNT WILL NOT BE ACCURATE.  THERE ARE MANY HIDDEN HOMELESS!

BASED ON PREVIOUS COUNTS, LOS ANGELES HAS THE HIGHEST HOMELESS POPULATION IN THE COUNTRY OTHER THAN NEW YORK CITY.

THERE ARE AND HAVE BEEN THOUSANDS WHO WILL NOT GET HELP, DESPITE SUCH COUNTS.

SPECIFICALLY, THEY WILL NOT GET INTO DECENT SHELTERS OR INTO LOW INCOME HOUSING. THERE HASN'T BEEN ENOUGH SHELTERS OR LOW INCOME HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YEARS HERE so it may not matter how many thousands are (still) on the streets, in vehicles, on sofas, on floors, camping in the mountains, etc. 

HOMELESS SINGLE WOMEN WITH CHILDREN have the greatest chance of finding shelter and governmental help. 

SINGLE PEOPLE, if not senior citizens, have the WORST CHANCE.  Many shelters will not even take single people.  And if you are not religious or not Christian, and you don't want to be preached to and "converted" you have very little chance of finding a shelter to take you. 

EVEN THE ONES WHO SAY THEY DO NOT DO THIS DO.  They take government funds, sponsor Bible Studies, and tend to favor those who are "believers" which to us, is reality, and stinks.

HOMELESS COUNT COMING UP - DO YOU WANT TO BE COUNTED?

If you're in a shelter they will FORCE YOU TO BE COUNTED or threaten to throw you out, even if you do NOT want to be on public record as homeless.  After all, you may be homeless for a week or a month or two for the first time in your life and the label and stereotypes do not apply.  And have they even kept their promise to help you or are you just being STORED THERE while they collect?

HOMELESS COUNT is a special census and they say it's all about getting funding from the government in recognition of the problem  TOO BAD THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T CLOSELY WATCH AND REGULATE what some shelters really do with the funds.  TOO BAD SHELTERS DON'T HAVE TO BE CERTIFIED OR LICENSED!

SEE OUR QUESTIONS TO ASK A SHELTER page to get a better idea of what we are talking about.

SANTA MONICA COUNT SHOWS DROP IN HOMELESS

"The 2010 homeless count, conducted Jan. 27, indicated that 742 people were homeless: 264 living on the streets, 423 in shelters or institutions and 55 in cars or encampments."


Martha Groves in Santa Monica for the LA Times LINK TO FULL ARTICLE HERE

BOSTON GLOBE ARTICLE ON HOMELESS CENSUS

Here's an article on the Boston census of homeless, conducted in December 2009. We really wonder how any count of homeless can be accurate. Many homeless do not want to be known by the government.

Now that Senator Edward Kennedy has passed away and been replaced by a Republican, we wonder what life in Massachusetts will become for the poorest citizens of the United States.