FOR A GOOD CAUSE:Homeless survey needs helpers

To continue receiving federal funding for shelters and other homeless support services in the area, Point-In-Time Orange County is looking for more than 1,000 volunteers to observe and count the county’s homeless population later this month.

The homeless count and survey will take place Jan. 25 and 26 throughout the county, seeking to establish a baseline number of homeless people, increase public awareness of the issue and improve service providers’ ability to implement effective assistance.

Most importantly, information garnered from the project ensures the preservation of more than $10 million in governmental funding for Orange County’s various homeless services, including shelters and soup kitchens. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development mandates that homeless assistance programs across the nation collect information on sheltered and unsheltered homeless in their community every other year.

Laura Miller, executive director of the Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter in Costa Mesa, will be participating in the county’s second Point-In-Time count, a project she said is essential to the community.

“It’s important on the humanitarian level to see who cannot be sheltered and make sure the appropriate amount of funding continues to be channeled to the homeless population in Orange County,” Miller said. “We do have a serious problem here.”

The project is a partnership of several local organizations, including the County of Orange Housing and Community Services Department and 2-1-1 Orange County, a comprehensive referral system that directs residents to various services.

“We need to bring more attention and more accuracy to the needs of the homeless,” said Angie Baur, executive director of 2-1-1 Orange County. “We know we still have work to do.”

Baur emphasized the need to make the count as accurate as possible in order to increase awareness of Orange County’s homeless, a population that is often overlooked.

“In Orange County, we don’t tend to see the Skid Row-type environment that many people think about when they think of homelessness,” she said. “It’s an illusion that we don’t have a homeless problem in Orange County.”

On Jan. 25, volunteer counters will be walking assigned areas unfit for human habitation — such as parks, garages and tents — looking for and counting sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals and families.

The following day, one-on-one surveys will be conducted on the streets and in shelters with homeless people who agree to participate. Volunteers will be looking for statistical information on the circumstances of homeless individuals, such as how long they have been homeless, if they are employed or if they are veterans.

Point-In-Time is looking for volunteers who have an interest in the homeless issue, are 18 years or older and are able to walk one to two miles. The project also seeks anyone bilingual in English and Spanish or Vietnamese.

Volunteers must attend a two-hour training session before the count and should be able to dedicate at least five additional hours to the project, either counting, surveying or distributing supplies.

Anyone interested in volunteering for the 2007 Point-In-Time Orange County homeless count and survey should visit www.pointintimeoc.org. The local deployment center is the 2-1-1 Orange County office at 2183 Fairview Rd., Suite 107, Costa Mesa.