Friend of CHOA,
Happy New Year! What will this year bring, in regards to housing in Arcadia? Let’s explore together!
This is a short newsletter, focusing on the Homeless Count coming up in 2 weeks, on Wednesday night, January 21st, starting at 8pm. We meet at the Community Center, to get assigned areas to drive around Arcadia. Read more below. Seriously consider volunteering, and join us. We need many folks to help out.
Peace,
–Mike Veerman
CHOA Team Lead
Homeless Count on Wednesday, January 21st, at 8pm
CHOA encourages you to join the Homeless Count on Wednesday, January 21st at 8pm, initially gathering at the Arcadia Community Center(365 Campus Dr Arcadia, CA 91007). We count the unhoused, so we all know how all the efforts are working…or not working. Funding also is appropriate to the city, depending on these results. Either way, it is key for us to know, and collect the data.
We just drive around Arcadia. You do not need to get out of your cars. You work in teams of 2 or 3. You have one driver, and the others navigate around your selected area in the city, and count using the QuickCapture app on your phone. You can come with a team, or get a team member once everyone arrives. Bring a friend!!
You will need to take a 30 minute, on-line training, which explains how to use the app, how to drive in your area, and gives you tips on how to count (individuals, tents, RVs, etc.)
We need many folks to join in. You also get to meet the friendly city staff at the Recreation and Community Services Department, which is the department in Arcadia as the “designated project lead for coordinating the City’s response to homelessness”. As of this writing, Arcadia needs 14 more volunteers. More folks mean each team only gets one region to drive around to count, not multiple, which can take several hours.
Register to count at the below link:
count.lahsa.org
Read more below on what the results have been over the last few years.
The below line chart and grid shows the results of these Point in Time Counts over the years. The city admits that there was not a full effort before 2919. On and after 2019, we saw an increase in homeless folks in Arcadia, with the max in 174. Granted, the count is not straight-forward, as there is a multiplier added to the count. For example, if you find a large tent, but no individuals around it, the multiplier can just make a large tent be 3 people, even though you really did not see 3 individuals. (Remember, we are not opening tents, for privacy and other concerns.) Starting in 2024, our city no longer used the multiplier in the “count” so it seems like the count is going down. Really, we are just comparing different types of counts on the same chart.
It is a political matter, because if the count is low, then many folks can conclude we really do not have a homelessness problem here in Arcadia. In that mindset, one could assert that we should not spend time and effort on reducing homelessness in our city.
CHOA obviously does not take that view. We want to continue to make efforts to reduce homelessness here in Arcadia. People need to be housed.
LAHSA promotion video of the Homeless Count (35 seconds)