The Homeless Chronicles is an attempt to educate people about homelessness. It is a multi-part series focused on Orange County but in fact a lot of data and information comes from California, nationwide, and overseas.
This is a summary of the first 10 articles on homelessness along with links to the individual articles.
Week 1
- Who Are The Homeless?
- Homelessness changes depending on your definition, from very narrow to very broad.
- The life style homeless basically want to be left alone. The temporary homeless are looking for help to return them to their normal life. The chronic homeless have such disabling conditions they are the most difficult to reach and to help.
- In recent years, a greater percent of the homeless are coming from the temporary group, fueled largely by the high cost of housing in relationship to their income. In addition, closing the mental hospitals added tens of thousands of mentally ill people to the list of the homeless.
- There are three main groups of homeless people – (1) people who chose to be homeless, (2) people whose disabilities create/contribute to homelessness, and (3) people who experience a major negative event which propels them into homelessness.
- How Many Homeless Are there?
- We can probably double the HUD figures without worrying too much about over-estimating the numbers. That means that nationwide there are more than a million homeless people and in California the number is close to 250,000. In Orange County the number of homeless is between 10,000 and 15,000, not the 6,800 figure produced by the County.
- What Are the Real Numbers?
- HUD (i.e., federal) statistics under-count the homeless for a variety of reasons - narrow definition, low count in January, snapshot methodology, unable to find hidden homeless, untrained volunteers, reliance on self-report, and lack of uniformity. Putting this all together, it’s a wonder that the federal government continues to use this “point in time” strategy. The take-away is that when you see the numbers for just how many homeless people there are, and you see the source is the federal (HUD) survey, you know you are looking at an under-count.
- What Percent are Homeless?
- There is a wide difference in the percent of the population in California counties who are homeless, and the extent is not determined by population, density, nor the rent nor the cost of housing as a percent of income. Homelessness appears idiographic. In Orange County our percent of homeless is 22 per 10,000 people, which is below average for the State.
- Which OC cities have the most homeless?
- Looking at the cities in Orange County that have the most homeless on a per capita basis gives a very different picture from the one offered by the County that relied on size alone. Using the per capita data, the cities most impacted are Laguna Beach, Santa Ana, Tustin, Buena Park, Anaheim, Fullerton, Placentia, and Stanton. Size, cost of housing, poverty level, and cost of living failed to predict the incidence of homelessness on a per capita basis for OC’s cities.
Week 2
- A Look at the Unsheltered Homeless .
- There is wide diversity in the percent of homeless who are unsheltered across California, ranging from 87% (Imperial County) to 39% (Butte County). There doesn't appear to be any relationship between having unsheltered homeless and population size, density, nor cost of housing.
- What Percent of the Homeless are Mentally Ill?
- There is wide diversity across California in the percent of homeless who self-report being mentally ill, ranging from 12% (Stanislaus) to 57% (Tulare/King). There doesn't appear to be any relationship between self-reported mental illness and population size, density, nor cost of housing.
- Who are the Homeless Mentally Ill?
- Homeless people in OC with SMI are likely to also suffer with physical/medical problems, substance abuse, and thoughts of suicide. A small proportion may also be developmentally disabled. Among those individuals with SMI, the most common types of mental illness symptoms that are likely to be displayed revolve around depression, mood disorders, and schizophrenia. Based on the research and the data, there are likely to be more than 500 homeless people in OC who are mentally ill and have a substance abuse problem.
- Has the number and percent of mentally ill homeless people changed?
- Orange County has experienced an increase in the percent of the homeless who self-report being mentally ill, and that increase (more than double) is out of proportion to any other increases in any other counties. This increase is particularly worrisome when you consider the fact that more than half the California counties had a decrease in the percent of mentally ill homeless.
- Why does OC Have The Highest Increase in Homeless Mentally Ill?
- Neither the change in language nor the change in methodology can account for the dramatic increase in self-reported SMI for homeless people in OC. Among those few counties like OC that experienced an increase in SMI, no commonalities could be found, including population size, density, nor baseline census.
About the Author
Dr. Jim Gardner is the former Mayor of Lake Forest. A Clinical Psychologist, he is a former University Professor and Department Head. He authored several reports about homelessness.