Kern County, in partnership with the city and local nonprofits, conducted its annual tally of the unsheltered Wednesday morning in an effort to better understand the needs of its homeless population and secure much-needed federal funding.
“This year it went fabulously,” said Anna Laven, executive director of the Bakersfield Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative, a local nonprofit. “To get everyone out the door basically by 5:10 a.m., and I think this is probably the most number of volunteers we’ve had — at least the most we’ve had registered.”
Volunteers began arriving at the educational chapel of The Mission at Kern County Shelter as early as 2:30 a.m. Although they didn’t require specific qualifications, volunteers were required to undergo a two-hour orientation, either in person or by Zoom. By 5 a.m., they began heading out.
Once they arrived, a handful of paid employees clustered volunteers into groups of three or four, with each adopting a specific role, such as driver, coordinator or speaker. Once volunteers identify a homeless person, they ask them questions from a survey on the county’s phone app.
“It’s good to understand where they come from and what they need, “ said Jaime Carmona, an outreach officer with Flood Ministries and first-time volunteer.
Vice Mayor Andrae Gonzales said it was his first time volunteering as a driver.
“It’s something I’ve helped out within the past, but I really wanted to come out today and more than anything, participate and help,” he said.
One volunteer, Nai Kasick, said she volunteered at the so-called point-in-time count in Tulare on Monday. The difference?
“Night and day,” Kasick said. “I thought the training was really good; Kern County really hit all the marks.”
The count is required every other year by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to demonstrate need for continuum of care services.
It’s done with a demographic survey of how many people are unsheltered and what services they may require, be it treatment for drug addiction or permanent housing, among other needs.
“So if they thought we had like 200 experiencing homelessness in Bakersfield, they’re going to fund us for that many,” said Michael Dobbs, the city park ranger supervisor. “But if we have, let's say 1,000, we need to make sure we’re getting the appropriate amount.”
Questions range from demographics, such as race, age and gender, to marital status and place of birth. Then, questions become more invasive, asking about substance use or if they have any known mental illness. Laven said roughly two-thirds of the questions are HUD-required, whereas the others are specific to Kern.
The groups bring with them a box or two of 10 “incentive” drawstring bags, which had things like beanies, cigarettes, granola bars and a hygiene kit. The bag also holds a CAPK 211 flier, in case individuals contacted are interested in receiving services.
“If we’re going to disturb people while they’re sleeping, we just want to give them a thank you for participating," Laven said. “And they’ll get the incentive bag whether or not they choose to participate.”
The bags also serve as a place marker to prevent overlap among teams on routes throughout Kern’s 8,100 square miles, including rural areas of Frazier Park and Shafter.
The count takes place over several days, beginning Tuesday at the four shelters, and extends into Thursday and Friday. Officials generally release results in April, after a vetting process. Findings from the 2022 PiT count, released in April, identified 1,603 people experiencing homelessness. That was a 1.5 percent increase from the 1,580 identified in 2020.
It also takes place against the backdrop of a statewide housing crisis that has dominated the attention of policymakers and has arguably been the issue’s biggest chokepoint. Kern County averages a two percent vacancy rate for affordable housing.
“That’s the challenge California is in right now,” Laven said. “If your gap is really wide, which is what happens when you have really low inventory, which is what we've had for the last two years, you have a low ability to get folks into permanent housing.”
According to a 2022 federal census, California accounts for 30 percent of the U.S. homeless population and 50 percent of the unsheltered population — those living in tents, cars and other makeshift homes — despite having less than 12 percent of the nation’s population.
Previous counts have determined at least 94 percent of Kern’s homeless population is from the area.
“That tends to be a common myth that Los Angeles is busing all their homeless here, which is not true,” Laven said.
This year, surveyors added two questions to the questionnaire, asking people what they believe was the cause of their situation and the status of their health insurance.
Those experiencing homelessness qualify for Medi-Cal insurance, which gives them access to Clinica Sierra Vista, Kern Medical and the county’s behavioral health services. Navigation centers at M street and Brundage Lane also provide some in-house medical care. That said, many either don’t know how to sign up or are unable to keep up with appointments.
“If you’re experiencing homelessness, there’s a lot of barriers to accessing health care,” Laven said. “Just getting there, remembering that you have an appointment three weeks from now at a specific time. And it’s become more understood how intertwined health care and homelessness really are.”
Officials acknowledge that the tally is an undercount, as it is nearly impossible to physically find every person experiencing homelessness.
“I think when people see the number from the PiT this is the total number of people we need to serve annually,” Laven said. “That’s how they translate it. And it’s not true: The number of people we serve is far higher.”
And while she believes this count is vital to city and county efforts in addressing homelessness, it’s only “one day out of the year.”
“Is it good information? Absolutely,” Laven said. “But it's not the only data point that we want to use to figure out how many people we serve.”