Updated January 23, 2019
The City of Roseville Homeless Response Team was among a collaborative group of agencies and nonprofit organizations from Placer and Nevada counties known as the Homeless Resource Council of the Sierras conducting an annual point-in-time count of homeless individuals January 24.
Homeless counts are required to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Placer County will likely receive more than $1 million through this funding stream this year. Though HUD only requires a full count of both unsheltered and sheltered individuals every other year, Roseville and Placer County now conduct a full count each year.
The point-in-time count is also done in hopes of getting better information about our local homeless population and local needs for services. The 2018 count showed an 18 percent reduction in South Placer County from the year prior, which Roseville attributes to the great work of the Roseville Police Social Services Unit, the Roseville Homeless Response Team and the City’s Homeless Prevention and Rapid Rehousing grants funded through old redevelopment funding and a grant from Sutter Health’s Getting to Zero Campaign.
“Collaboration is the key,” said Roseville Housing Manager Danielle Foster. “Our Homeless Response Team consists of members of the Roseville Housing staff, Roseville Police Social Services Unit, County Housing Coordinators and area non-profits. This coordinated effort is making a difference.”
Point-in-time counts are not a comprehensive measure of an area’s homeless population, but rather snapshots from a single day that can be used to approximate broad trends. Typically, they are viewed as undercounts for a community’s yearly overall homeless population because many people may move in and out of homelessness throughout the year.