LAKE COUNTY >> For the Point-in-Time count of January 2025, efforts employed digital surveys to ensure there was no duplications of data gathered, noted Pastor Shannon Kimbell-Auth, who helped coordinate the 12 sites across Lake County.
Pastor Shannon said these were preliminary numbers and added that the final total count was not expected until at least another couple of weeks. She noted that she expected by the next Continuum of Care meeting, scheduled on February 6, 2025, they anticipate the total numbers will have been calculated. At the Methodist Church in Kelseyville, 16 interviews were completed.by 1:30 p.m., explained Ana Santana, a homeless advocate. “This morning, people were able to get a breakfast burrito, coffee, hot chocolate or tea,” Santana said. “For lunch they had a vegetable Pozole soup, chicken casserole and fruit salad, at the Hope Center.
They also distributed trousers, shirts, sweatshirts, scarves beanie caps, gloves some shoes, jackets, some towels, blankets, also granola bars, cup-of soup and green apples. Also, there were some feminine hygiene products, disposable razors and there were backpacks, containing Ziplock bags of soap and toothbrushes from an unnamed donor. There is a shower available at the Kelseyville site on Thursdays. “It’s more than just counting people,” Santana said. “We’re here to help people to access resources today.”
At the Circle of Native Americans in Lakeport Carrie Manning interviewed about 10 to 12 people. She is a behavioral health clinical specialist, and experienced homelessness herself 30 years ago. For a meal, recipients got a burrito, doughnuts and coffee. Later they got snacks in a backpack for those who completed a survey, as well as a pair of socks, toiletries, a hygiene and Narcan kits, which they were provided instruction to use. Also, people got water, juice and apple, orange and a granola bar.
“People were in and out of the clothing closet all day,” Manning said. They gave out jackets, sweatshirts and one guy who could not get a place in a shelter got a banket and a tent. And we made a referral to behavioral health and helped one person apply for medical online. One person said, ‘Thanks for making me feel human again.’ because the homeless tend to get stigmatized as all drug addicts.”
Meanwhile, District 2 Supervisor Bruno Sabatier was visiting several sites, beginning at the Clearlake Hope Center, then going to the Xabatin Park in Lakeport and winding up at the Robinson Rancheria, Upper Lake. At noon, they completed 191 interviews for the county, then about 2:30 p.m. they had done just under 300 interviews.
“For clothing, we had jackets and sweaters,” he said. “Also, backpacks with hygiene kits with water, while some sites had Narcan kits, not all. We do have mobile showers at some sites but only on selected days. The reason for the point-in-time count,” he explained, was the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development needs to know how much to allocate. But if a town declines funding, there is no need for a count.”
