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Countywide Homeless Count Under Way Today

Similar counts in the past few years have indicated a small but steady decline in the number of homeless persons in Alameda County.

Bay City News Service—Volunteers in Alameda County are conducting a count of the local homeless population today.

EveryOne Counts! 2013 is designed to provide an estimate of how many people are living without shelter or in emergency or transitional housing in the county.

The county is required to conduct a tally of its homeless population every two years in order to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for homeless programs, county officials said. The count must be conducted during the last 10 days of January.

The most recent homeless count and survey in 2011 tallied 4,178 homeless people. In 2009, 4,341 homeless were counted. Two years earlier, 4,838 homeless people were tallied, indicating a steady decrease in the homeless population in recent years, according to the county.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, Berkeley Councilman Jesse Arreguin, Alameda County Board of Supervisors president Keith Carson, and Ophelia Basgal, regional HUD administrator, will hold a news conference this afternoon to discuss the count.

Copyright © 2013 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

James Simmons January 31, 2013 at 01:48 am
I wonder what the count in Albany was last time? I also wonder who and how they did the counting? What happened to the money? Maybe if they offered some money to the homeless they would come out and be counted.
James Simmons January 31, 2013 at 01:56 am
I find it encouraging that the numbers decreased by such a margin last time. But where did they go? Maybe they all got jobs working for H.U.D. or some special interest groups and aren't homeless anymore.
Kirsten Schwartz January 31, 2013 at 01:58 pm
There are more homeless on the Bulb--some building has been going on (I've seen plenty of building materials being brought in) and there is a new encampment on the north side. I hope someone takes an accurate count there.
EJC February 1, 2013 at 11:52 am
The Bulb?
Dover February 1, 2013 at 04:34 pm
The Bulb:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albany_Bulb
Mark Irons February 1, 2013 at 06:01 pm
great documentary about previous Bulb denizens and eviction process: http://www.bumsparadise.com/
Mark Irons February 1, 2013 at 06:09 pm
also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V50CVAuqAA
Amber Whitson February 10, 2013 at 11:55 pm
Funny thing... I have been doing community organizing out here, on the Bulb, for about half a year now... And, although after the last "homeless census" I heard from a few of my fellow Bulb residents, that they had participated.... This year, I didn't even know it had happened already. Seems they skipped us this time around...
Amber Whitson February 11, 2013 at 02:08 am
And, please, don't associate the current population of the Bulb with that piece of "art" (in video form) that was created so very long ago... We are a *VERY* different crowd around here, more than 10 years after that piece was made. :-)

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