Street Count data released; homeless increased 14 percent

In surprising and late-to-be-released information from Sacramento county Department of Human Assistance, the finding is that "the overall number of homeless has increased 14 percent from 2007 to 2009, [while the] chronically homeless [element has] decreased 34.8 percent."

According to the press release,

“It is exciting to see that the efforts of the 10 Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness in Sacramento County are making a difference in the lives of the chronically homeless in our community,” said Roger Dickinson, Sacramento County Supervisor and champion of the 10 Year Plan. He continues, “The results of the Homeless Street Count show that chronic homelessness has decreased by 34.8% between 2007 and 2009. That means that in the last two years 320 chronic homeless people are now living in permanent supportive housing who otherwise would be on the streets or in a shelter. We are committed as a county to end chronic homelessness in 10 years.”

SacHo will try to obtain a copy of the Homeless Street Count 2009 final report [i.e, THE DATA] and will let you know [in a blogpost, coming later today, hopefully] more details of what the Street Count survey found.

UPDATE: A better report on Street Count, using more-detailed data, appears in SacHo here: "Street Count, 2009 Data: Homelessness up 4.6% in county in past year."