Why is This Important?
Homeless individuals lack a fi xed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. Homelessness detracts from an individual's ability to hold down steady employment and can negatively impact their health and safety. Homelessness among children can impact a child's ability to succeed in school and maintain
relationships with peers.
What is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where all residents of a community have access to a safe and permanent residence and temporarily homeless individuals have access to high-quality shelters and support services.
How Are We Doing?
Homeless Census 2009
The San Mateo County Human Services Agency completed a new Homeless Census and Survey in early 2009. It identified 1,796 homeless individuals in the county (using an annualization formula, there are an estimated 2,712 homeless people in San Mateo County on an annual basis). This is a decrease of about
270 homeless individuals from 2007 when the last census was completed (about 13 percent). County and non-profit officials indicate that the decrease stems from numerous new programs implemented in the past two years designed to meet the housing needs of homeless individuals, such as the Homeless Outreach
Team (HOT), the opening of the Vendome Hotel, and the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) master leasing program, which allows for improved housing for homeless with mental and emotional disorders.
Other major findings of the 2009 survey included:
• There were 803 unsheltered homeless (living on streets, in vehicles, in homeless encampments) and 993 sheltered homeless in emergency shelters, transitional housing, motel voucher programs, residential treatment, jails, and hospitals.
• Forty-nine percent were found to be "chronically" homeless, meaning that they had been homeless for longer than 12 months or for 4 times in the past year.
• Thirty-eight percent reported drug or alcohol abuse problems and 33 percent reported mental illness.
• About 9 percent of homeless surveyed had dependent children.
• Fourteen percent of the homeless counted were veterans, a reduction from 27 percent in 2007. County officials indicate this is due to an increase in programs for homeless veterans.
Homeless Services
A number of local and county agencies and non-profits provide vital services to homeless individuals in the county such as shelter, food, and physical and mental health services. In interviews with SSMC, all of these service providers indicated that while the homeless census shows progress in reducing the number of homeless individuals, the demand for related services has increased dramatically over the last year. Key findings from these providers are highlighted below.
