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Santa Cruz plans to use a strategy pioneered in San Francisco to reach out to people who are homeless and ensure they are included in next year's federal census.

A more accurate count could mean more government funding, according to Samantha Green of the United Way of Santa Cruz County, citing estimates that the city of Santa Cruz missed out on $11 million due to an undercount in the previous census.

Homeless people traditionally have been difficult to count.

In January, a survey of all 52 census tracts in Santa Cruz County found 1,536 homeless persons plus another 729 homeless individuals in shelters, motels or transitional housing. Meanwhile, a federally recommended formula put the number at 4,624.

The county's Complete Count Committee, a group dedicating to census accuracy, has been meeting for months talking about how to reach difficult-to-count populations.

Peter Connery of Applied Survey Research, which coordinated the January count, explained how Project Homeless Connect, a 5-year-old effort to end homelessness in San Francisco, has connected thousands of homeless people with services provided at a one-day event. More than 220 cities have since adopted the same strategy, offering medical and dental screenings, meals, job counseling and child care in a single location rather than expecting people to visit multiple agencies in different places.

Connery suggested a one-day event in Santa Cruz to create the largest possible gathering of local homeless individuals on a date during the census count.City Councilman Don Lane is enthusiastic about the idea. He had been on the staff of the Homeless Services Center in Santa Cruz and now serves on the board as well as on the Complete Count Committee.

"We can provide some special services on this one day that can make a real difference in the lives of homeless people in our community," he said. He envisions dozens, if not hundreds, of people providing services on March 30.

The plan is to schedule the event at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium if the City Council approves.

What makes such an event possible is the support of United Way, which has tapped Green to be volunteer coordinator.

Green, 27, originally from Gilroy, is eager to make it happen. A graduate of the London School of Economics with a master's degree in anthropology, she is one of five AmeriCorps members funded by the federal stimulus and assigned by the Volunteer Center to nonprofits in Santa Cruz County through June 30.

She will go to San Francisco on Wednesday to see Project Homeless Connect in action at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium along with Kymberly Lacrosse, a United Way community organizer, and two AmeriCorps members working at the Homeless Services Center.

The success of the March 30 event depends on whether people who are homeless take advantage of it. Green is looking at ways to get bus passes to them. She also looked at what worked in Salinas: Rehab services, needle exchange, clothes and haircuts." We want to do that," she said, encouraging interested agencies and volunteers to contact her.

By Jondi Gumz, Santa Cruz Sentinel - 12/8/2009

Based on the most recently available U.S. Census data from 2007, United Way's report, “Struggling to Make Ends Meet,” shows that hard times preceded the recession for a significant number of Bay Area families.  Even before the global economic crisis, having a job was not a guarantee of adequate income: 86% of Bay Area households with incomes below the Standard had at least one worker.  In more than half (56%) of Bay Area households with incomes below the Self-Sufficiency Standard, the adult head of that household was employed full time, either part of the year or year round, and still did not earn enough income to make ends meet.

“This report raises important questions about how we can better serve the thousands of low-wage workers and families who were already struggling before the recession, whose situations are undoubtedly more precarious now,” said Anne Wilson, CEO of United Way of the Bay Area.  “While United Way continues to support programs that provide emergency food, rent and utility assistance, we are also working hard to build pathways out of poverty for hardworking families, to ensure they are not left behind in the economic recovery.  Low-wage workers must have access to education and training opportunities that will enable them to earn higher wages, advance up career ladders, support their families, and contribute to our region’s success over the long term.”

Other key findings from the report:

·     Families headed by single women are almost two times more likely than two-parent households to have incomes below the Standard.

·     Latino and African American households are disproportionately likely to have incomes below the Standard – 43% of Latino households and 38% of African American households in the Bay Area have insufficient incomes to meet their essential needs compared to 14% of White households.

·     The largest groups of struggling householders are Latino (149,943) and White (146,608); however, Latinos are more than three times as likely as Whites to fall below the Standard, due to more limited access to high-paying jobs and career ladders.

“We know that traditional safety net approaches no longer even come close to addressing the challenges faced by low-wage families,” said Carole Leigh Hutton, president and CEO, United Way Silicon Valley.  “Through programs like 2-1-1, Bank on California and Earn It! Keep It! Save It!, United Way is bringing together resources that empower low-wage workers and their families to become financially stable and independent.” 

The Self-Sufficiency Standard, part of a state and national movement to reform the way poverty is measured and understood, calculates the actual cost of living on a county-by-county basis, using the costs of housing, food and shelter, as well as the work-related costs of transportation, child care and taxes. The Standard represents a basic-needs budget that excludes common expenditures, such as credit-card and loan payments, retirement savings and emergency expenses. It also assumes that all adults in the household work to support their families.  In contrast to the Standard, the 40-year-old Federal Poverty Level, which identifies only 7% of Bay Area residents as “poor,” is based on the cost of food and does not take into account wide variations in the cost of living in different counties.

For the full United Way report, “Struggling to Make Ends Meet," which contains detailed information for Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano and Sonoma counties, click here .  The Bay Area report is based on a statewide report, “Overlooked and Undercounted 2009,” produced by the Center for Women’s Welfare of the University of Washington’s School of Social Work, under the direction of Diana Pearce, on behalf of United Way and Insight Center for Community Economic Development.

Please click here for a Santa Cruz County Specific Fact Sheet.