Early on the morning of January 23, some 600 volunteers equipped with maps, cell phones, and some essential toiletries to give away set out to survey the homeless population in the largest county in the nation. It’s called the Point-In-Time count. Reporter Mike Lipsitz is here with some results of that effort…
What they found is that for the third consecutive year, the county’s homeless population grew, up 20 percent from 2019. Morongo Basin overall saw a 22 percent increase to 182 individuals. Nowhere was the increase more pronounced than in Joshua Tree which saw the homeless population double from 30 in 2019 to 59 individuals this January. Morongo Valley went from zero counted last year to five this year; Twentynine Palms also saw a five person increase from 40 to 45. Canvassers in Yucca Valley counted 71 homeless people, one less than last year. Two were counted in Landers, up from none the year prior.
A copy of the 2020 Homeless Count and Subpopulation Survey may be found online at sbcounty.gov/sbchp. The report describes the condition of the homeless in our county as a Human Services Crisis and spells out 11 recommendations for alleviating some of the suffering brought on by homelessness.
