Amador County – A survey in January showed 218 homeless people living in Amador County, and nearly 800 in the three-county area of Amador, Tuolumne and Calaveras.
Representatives from Amador-Tuolumne Community Action Agency and Jackson Emergency Shelter reported that there are 104 single adults, 21 single parents with children, 5 couples with children, and one pregnant woman in Amador County. Among those, are 18 military veterans, including 9 who had seen active duty.
A-TCAA Housing Resources Director Margaret “Beetle” Barbour report to the Amador County Board of Supervisors last week that numbers showed a nearly 50-50 split among the gender of homeless in Amador County, rare because “generally speaking, there are usually more homeless men.” The survey also showed a growing number of children living independent of adults.
In Amador, 77 percent of those surveyed called Amador County home, up from 66 percent in 2009. 67 of the people were “couch surfing,” and didn’t expect to have their own home this year. 58 percent have some type of disability, be it physical, substance abuse, or other. Some are homeless because they can’t find a job, and 36 percent could not afford rent.
Barbour said supervisors set A-TCAA on the path of its homeless surveys by approving a 2007 planning grant. The grant established annual surveys of Amador, Tuolumne and Calaveras County homeless, with the goal to have a database of stats about the homeless, to show where people are living and to show if they are able to access services.
A-TCAA has received $460,000 in grants for housing projects, Barbour said. Of that, up to $140,000 will go toward an Amador County housing program.
The survey showed the three counties have a total of 780 people, including 282 children. Most notably, she said they “did the survey in January, in one of the worst winters that I’ve lived through.”
Supervisor Brian Oneto said: “I’m not shocked to see the numbers increasing. They’re going to keep growing because businesses are leaving the state in droves.”
Teams of volunteers hit the streets to help the survey. Denise Cloward, Emergency Shelter Coordinator of the Jackson shelter, told supervisors she surveyed the downtown Highway 49 corridor in Jackson, and found 15 people to interview.
As shelter coordinator, she knows the homeless, where they live, and has built trust. They confide in the volunteers, speak of their addictions. Some can’t find jobs, and many work but can’t afford rent.
Cloward said a man working in the National Hotel was also sleeping in the National, on the floor, without a mattress. She said one woman was a trained medical assistant, whose unemployment was running out. She said one of the most popular phrases she heard was: “I’ve never been in this position in my life.”
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
