Results from the 2020 Los Angeles County Homeless Count indicate that while the total number of people experiencing homelessness has increased in the county, the number of homeless individuals has decreased in Santa Clarita.

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) released the community-level data from the 2020 “point-in-time” homeless count, which was conducted in January before the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic reached Southern California. 

Within that data, Santa Clarita reportedly had 168 people experiencing homelessness, a 35 percent decrease from the 258 reported in 2019.

“One of the biggest challenges in addressing homelessness is gathering accurate data on those who are experiencing it,” said Santa Clarita Mayor Cameron Smyth, who also serves as chair of the Community Task Force on Homelessness. “The annual homeless count is just one of many tools we use to gauge the effectiveness of our strategies. Although this decline is a positive step, we are still hearing from our school districts that they have hundreds of homeless students, and our services providers are reporting an uptick in the number of people who received services.”

The Community Task Force on Homelessness created a “new, more accurate” survey that was implemented in the Newhall School District, which reportedly showed that 148 students were experiencing homelessness in 2019. 

Local homeless outreach programs also reported their personal numbers to city officials. 

“Family Promise SCV reportedly served 73 clients through their shelter programs, while also providing referral services and support for 115 families,” reads a statement issued by the City Thursday. “In addition, Bridge to Home served 1,062 unduplicated clients via intake and outreach, eviction prevention, case management and more.”

See Related: Los Angeles County Homeless Population Grows Over 12 Percent Pre-Coronavirus Outbreak

The Homeless Task Force is made up of members of more than 30 local organizations, and meets monthly complete action items identified in the “Community Plan to Address Homelessness,” which was developed in 2018 in partnership with Los Angeles County.

“This year, the Task Force has prioritized the development of a homeless registry to help better understand Santa Clarita’s real homeless count and needs,” Thursday’s statement reads. “Once complete, the registry will allow the Task Force to identify who is homeless, what services they need and what services they have accessed.”

City officials say that the database is being constructed to “ensure the privacy of data for individuals and to minimize duplication for accuracy.”

“This will prove to be an extremely useful tool for the community to better identify and support those experiencing homelessness,” Thursday’s statement reads.

Back in June, officials with the LAHSA released the countywide results of the 2020 homeless count, revealing a 12.7 percent increase in people experiencing homelessness since 2019. 

To learn more about the City’s response to prevent and combat homelessness, click here.

To see the full results of the 2020 homeless count, click here.

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