First District Supervisor Lovingood’s office shared some of the results for the most recent Point-in-Time count.
Despite misinformation spread throughout the community indicated that our homeless population was a result of other countries importing their homeless to the High Desert. Although there are few who did find themselves homeless elsewhere and traveled to the High Desert, just over 94 percent reported becoming homeless while living in the High Desert. In the Victor Valley, 252 were counted, 21 of them (5.9 percent) said they had become homeless out of the area.
The vast majority of the homeless counted were living unsheltered, meaning outside of a shelter, motel, or housed through transitional housing.
Since 2016, when the board of supervisors began to aim their focus on unsheltered veterans, 1295 veterans have been permanently housed and since January 2017, over 460 chronically homeless people, including those with mental health issues have also been housed. The point-in-time count uses volunteers, including those who work with the homeless, mental health workers, county workers, and others who go out to count the homeless within each city. While counting they make contact with the homeless individuals to offer any services that they may need. The data collected during the count is used to request sufficient funding needed to provide the services necessary for those both sheltered and unsheltered.
