Amador County – The Amador-Tuolumne Community Action Agency announced an upcoming survey of homeless people in Amador County Tuesday at the Board of Supervisors meeting in Jackson.
A-TCAA Housing Resources Director Margaret “Beetle” Barbour told supervisors the survey will be conducted for 48 hours on Jan. 25-27, and flyers were circulating. She said “getting an accurate count of homeless individuals and families” will better enable A-TCAA “to develop a community-wide plan to end homelessness.”
The survey seeks to find out how many people in Amador County don’t have a home, and will be conducted at locations throughout Amador County, including the Interfaith Foodbank, the library and the shelter in Jackson. The surveys are also available at the A-TCAA Service Center in Jackson, at community centers, senior centers, hospitals, Amador Public Health, Behavioral Health and Social Services.
People currently without a home are asked to go to one of the survey locations on Jan. 25-27, to be counted. If people cannot come to a survey location, they can call 223-9215 or 223-1485, ext. 263 and A-TCAA will send a volunteer to meet at a convenient place. People are asked to encourage those who are homeless to be counted.
Barbour said a volunteer training session is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12 at the Amador County administration building in Jackson. The classes will train volunteers to become enumerators, to help out with the survey.
Barbour said “sheltered homeless tend to be families, most of them homeless just briefly and most of them pull themselves out of that situation with minimal assistance.” The statistics of unsheltered homeless, or “street” homeless, are what most people would consider the core social issue.
Barbour said overall, Amador County’s homeless numbers increased in 2009, compared to 2007, and “this was likely due to a new plan to use adult homeless shelter residents as enumerators.” She said “shelter residents were effective at locating homeless individuals in Amador County,” and they “also had a higher level of trust with the homeless population,” therefore making it “easier to interview more homeless individuals.”
The 2007 survey showed 51 people, including nine children were homeless in Amador, while in 2009, the total was 95 people, including 22 children. Barbour said “these numbers would have been even higher if (Housing and Urban Development) had not narrowed the definition of who is considered homeless. In a change from 2007, the survey in 2009 said that individuals and families that were considered “couch surfers” were no longer considered homeless.
To volunteer to help with the survey, call (209) 223-9215 or 223-1485, ext. 263.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
