Point in Time count of un-housed Calaveras citizens to take place January 23

This Wednesday January 23, local volunteers will be performing the annual Point In Time count of un-housed people throughout the county. The PIT count is a snapshot of un-housed people in Calaveras that takes place in a single 24 hour period, and is used by HUD in determining the amount of funding our county will receive to provide supportive services. It also serves to inform our local government, non-profits, and volunteer groups to better serve our community. The survey questions take just a few minutes, and are confidential and anonymous.

The method and timing of the Point In Time count, along with the limited number of volunteers doing the work assures a significant under-count. In 2017, the count totaled 19 countywide!  According to county Health and Human Services, data from 2017-18 applications for CalWorks and MediCal revealed 819 Calaveras County residents who identified themselves as homeless. A number that has increased by 35% over the last five years.

District 2 probably has the highest per-capita population of un-housed people in the county given the number of people who lost their homes in the Butte Fire, among other reasons. D2 is also probably where it’s the hardest to find people to count due to the large area, terrain, low population density and absence of places houseless and transient people tend to congregate.

Basically, HUD considers people un-housed if they are living without shelter, or may be sleeping in a vehicle or an RV that isn’t fully self-contained and road ready. It could be that their RV lacks power or sewage hook-up, shower, heat, cooking facilities, etc. You/they could be camping on their land in a tent or yurt after losing a home, sleeping under a bridge or in a vacant building. Unfortunately, HUD does not count people who are “sofa-surfing.” It’s important that Calaveras receive funding that better reflects the reality on the ground… Especially in D2.

So if you, or anyone you know of may be living without proper housing anywhere in the county, please contact one of us to help us contact and account for as many as possible. Even if people don’t want to be interviewed, volunteers can account for them by simple observation. We assure you we will protect people’s anonymity and confidentiality, and their location. Our neighbor’s privacy, comfort, dignity and security are of paramount importance to us. And if you know someone on the other side of the county that we may not be able to go visit personally, please pass the info along and we’ll get it to someone who can.

Lastly, if it isn’t practical to direct us to find someone, please share our contact information and encourage them to reach out to either of us by Wednesday.

Thank you,

Tom Griffing

Phone/Text:  209.484.7558

Email: tomgriffing13@gmail.com

Susan K. Holper

Phone/Text: 209.858.8571

Email: sueholper@icloud.com