by Lupe Velez
Every two years, the City of San Francisco conducts a Point-in-Time Count (PIT) with which it attempts to capture the number of people experiencing street homelessness, as required by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a condition for funding. San Francisco’s latest PIT Count was conducted in the early morning Thursday, January 29. Historically, advocates and government officials alike have criticized the PIT count for underreporting its figures. The City drastically changed its methodology from what was essentially a spot-check of visibly unhoused people in such a way that will likely result in an egregious undercount. These changes include narrowing who is authorized to conduct the count and changing the time of counting from evening to pre-dawn.
The City excluded non-city outreach workers, except for select favored organizations such as Homeless Outreach Team (HOT), from the count. Before, the count was open to community volunteers and non-governmental organizations. This change of policy undermines accountability and oversight, while excluding key stakeholders who have deep trust relationships with members of the unhoused community. Lastly, the change in timing is substantial. Homeless people are often on the move in the morning, or hiding for fear of sweeps. In the early evening it is far easier to observe unhoused people, while in the mornings, folks are on their way to school and work.
Many homeless rights advocates and shelter providers have voiced concern about who could be left out of the count. Marnie Regen, division director of government relations at Larkin Street Youth Services, said, “Transitional-aged youth providers are concerned that the change in methodology could miss unhoused youth that we have historically engaged during the evening counts.”
Following along with crews of counters, the SF Standard reported how the new PIT Count procedures slowed down the process, likely leading to an undercount. City workers were required to approach folks they assumed to be homeless and survey them as part of the new rules, a requirement that is done successfully in other areas, but requires more volunteers.
HUD guidelines require each municipality to have an independent community oversight body, typically called a Continuum of Care board, to oversee the count. In SF, this body is called the Local Homeless Coordinating Board. This year, the Mayor’s office was much more deeply involved in making several changes to the methodology, making the count more vulnerable to manipulation for political gain. For example, the City refused to count families on the waitlist for shelter as it had in previous years, until family shelter providers told the City they were going to do their own count by calling families during the time the count was happening, whether the city included those numbers or not. The Mayor’s office then switched gears last minute and included the families.
There was also the switch to counting in the morning. This is a fine time to do the count—UNLESS that is when sweeps are happening. If the city is citing, arresting and confiscating property, that can lead to an undercount in that area. One of the areas with the largest number of unhoused community members in SF is Sixth Street. This year, the city swept the whole street before the counters arrived. Advocates such as the Coalition on Homelessness had been asking the City for a moratorium on morning sweeps on the day of the PIT count if they switched from night time, which is when they did the count for the past 20 years. The City refused.
This is just the latest example of executive overreach by Lurie’s administration. This includes his current proposal to reform the city’s charter to decrease people’s initiative power and his attempt to eliminate independent government oversight, committees and commissions across sectors. The Coalition on Homelessness demands accountability and transparency and an improved methodology that brings back important elements of past PIT counts while working towards community driven and permanent solutions to address the homelessness crisis.
