The final report from Orange County’s Point in Time project “Everyone Counts OC” has been released to the OC Board of Supervisors documenting the numbers of homeless people within the county as well as demographic and sub-group data. The main goal of the project was “to establish a baseline for its efforts in building out a System of Care that is both comprehensive and responsive to meet the needs of individuals and families experiencing homelessness across the jurisdiction.”
The total number of 6,860 breaks down into demographics of who is homeless as well as a variety of sub-groups consisting of families, transitional youths (18-24), seniors and veterans. In addition, the report also details racial and ethic disparities, shelter inventory, unused beds and how long people have been homeless.
When it comes to sheltering, the report shows that 3,691 (57%) of those counted are currently unsheltered and that 2,899 (42%) are either in emergency shelter programs or transitional housing programs. These numbers are an accumulation of three different service planning areas: North, Central and South. A hefty amount is located in the North and Central accounting for 89% of the total number, where as the South counts for 11%.
A main topic of the report is that although white people account for more than ⅔ of the sheltered and unsheltered population. However, there are a disproportionate amount of black and hispanic homeless people based on the total county population. The numbers from the report are:
- Blacks or African Americans and Multiple Races are overly represented in Orange County’s homeless population. Of the individuals and families experiencing unsheltered homelessness, 8.41 percent are Black or African American and 12.24 percent are Multiple Races. Of the individuals and families experiencing sheltered homelessness, 15.01 percent are Black or African American and 4.10 percent are Multiple Races. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Blacks or African Americans represent 2.1 percent and Multiple Races only represent 3.5 percent of the Orange County population.
- Hispanic and Latino families experiencing homelessness are over represented in the Orange County’s homeless population. Of the families experiencing unsheltered homelessness, 57.07 percent are Hispanic or Latino. Of the families experiencing sheltered homelessness, 49.83 percent are Hispanic or Latino. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanics and Latinos represent 34.2 percent of the population in Orange County.
Another eye-opening set of data revolves around a group that is usually hard to keep a tally of, homeless families. This appears to be because they tend to stay out of the public eye by staying in cars or repeatedly moving between temporary housing like motels according to the report. There were a total of 466 homeless families county-wide including 966 children. 366 of these families were sheltered, and a majority of 110 unsheltered families were living in some kind of automobile in disrepair.
Click here to read the full Point of Time Report
