San Bernardino County in the last year experienced a marginal drop in the number of homeless individuals and families living within its expansive borders, according to the official census of the displaced carried out annually.
The tallying of the San Bernardino County’s destitute, referred to as the “point in time count” was carried out on January 26 of this year.
According to that accounting, the number of the dispossessed living on the streets, in parks, beneath railroad trestles, under freeway and roadway bridges, in riverbeds, alleyways and other places unsheltered dropped by one percent of the displaced population a year before.
The results of this January’s point in time count were presented March 22 to officials with the San Bernardino County Interagency Council on Homelessness.
The reduction in the county’s itinerant between January 2016 and January 2017 was minuscule compared to the 12% decrease registered between January 2015 and January 2016. Still, officials were able to find a silver lining in the statistics.
“While communities across Southern California are seeing increases,” said San Bernardino County Fifth District Supervisor Josie Gonzales, “we’ve stabilized our numbers here.”
According to the 2017 count, 1,866 homeless people were documented as being in the county on January 26, 2017 as compared to 1,887 on January 28, 2016, a reduction of 21 people or a 1 percent downward trend.
The survey cataloged 1,179 of those homeless as “unsheltered.” Within the unsheltered category, there was a reduction of 13 during the year from 1,191 in 2016.
Of the homeless population, 73 percent are adult males.
The survey found 14 unaccompanied minors and 26 children in families.
The predominant ethnicity of the homeless in San Bernardino County is shown as those identified as “white,” at 67 percent. Hispanic/Latinos accounted for 24 percent.
In descending order, the cities with the highest homeless populations were: San Bernardino: 491; Redlands: 164; Victorville: 157; Upland: 127; Ontario: 91; Rialto: 91.
The federal government uses the annual point in time count to apportion federal funds intended to deal with homelessness.