ADVOCATES ARE RAISING concerns about whether Santa Clara County is going to undercount the number of homeless residents this year.
Every two years, the county participates in a federally mandated point-in-time count to gather information on the number of people living on the streets and in shelters. The count is taken over a two-day period in January and gives the county, state and federal government valuable information on who is homeless, even though it is often considered an undercount. This year, the county has switched to Simtech Solutions Inc., which is changing the methodology on how the count and survey will be conducted. Advocates are questioning the approach.
This year, Santa Clara County won’t search for homeless people on every street, but will concentrate efforts in areas where homeless people are likely to be found. In addition, volunteers will simultaneously interview homeless people to understand their background while conducting the count, as opposed to doing surveys in the days after a count is conducted.
This change may result in having less time to count people, Applied Survey Research Vice President Peter Connery said. The company conducted the count for the past 15 years prior to the switch.
“If you were to do a survey for everybody you count, that’s a tremendous number of surveys in a short 48-hour period to do so,” Connery told San José Spotlight. “As a result, there’s a limitation on the amount of outreach you can effectively do in a short time.”
Survey runs the gamut
County Acting Director of Supportive Housing Kathryn Kaminski said the survey is meant to capture background information about an individual’s health, job status and living conditions in real time.
“As a result of this survey-first approach, a much greater percentage of unhoused residents will be surveyed,” she said. “In previous years, interviews were conducted for approximately 10% of the total number of people counted. That percentage will be significantly higher.”
In the new system, volunteers and outreach workers share information about where homeless people are likely to be found weeks before the count is conducted. Organizers use this information to concentrate volunteers in these specific areas to ensure resources are being used efficiently, Kaminski said.
“It’s going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, because if you determine that you’re not likely to see homeless people there, then you’re not going to look for them.”
Jan Bernstein Chargin, homeless advocate
In places where fewer homeless people are likely to be found, a randomized area will be assigned to volunteers to count. That data will be extrapolated onto the other areas where volunteers will not be sent. Under the old system, volunteers counted in every part of the county, minus the wilderness and mountainous areas.
Due to the switch in methodologies, Santa Clara County won’t be able to compare this year’s data to results from previous point-in-time counts, limiting its ability to infer trends.
Kaminski said the switch to Simtech — which has been gathering data on homelessness since 2002 — was made to improve the technology and methodology used in the point-in-time count.
“The methodology to be used for the upcoming count is designed to be more accurate, technologically advanced and better suited to capture nuanced information,” Kaminski told San José Spotlight.
Falling through the cracks
However, homeless advocate Jan Bernstein Chargin said she worries homeless people will be missed with this new method.
“It’s going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, because if you determine that you’re not likely to see homeless people there, then you’re not going to look for them,” Chargin told San José Spotlight.
Applied Survey Research focused on having peer participatory research. Peer groups would let Applied Survey Research know their preferred areas to count and survey. Groups would receive assignments two to three weeks in advance.
When Applied Survey Research oversaw the process, it had several training sessions scattered over the county, according to homeless advocate Robert Aguirre, who has been a point-in-time count volunteer for more than a decade. This year seems lacking in communication and execution, he said.
“This is by far the most disorganized count I have ever experienced,” Aguirre told San José Spotlight. “It also compounds issues by not revealing the methods nor areas assigned to various groups with ample time to properly prepare in advance. I don’t trust the results at all. ”
Contact Joyce Chu at joyce@sanjosespotlight.com or @joyce_speaks on X.
This story originally appeared in San Jose Spotlight.
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