In a move that has raised both eyebrows and concerns, San Francisco has overhauled its approach to counting its homeless population. According to ABC7 News, the city's biennial Point-in-Time Count has shifted from a nighttime endeavour to an early morning affair, held between 5 AM and 10:30 AM, rather than the previous 8 PM to midnight timeslot. Officials claim the change is designed to improve accuracy, but some homeless advocates argue that it's a strategic move that could result in an undercount, with potential political motivations.
Del Seymour, Co-chair of San Francisco's Local Homeless Coordinating Board, supports the new method. He believes that the visibility provided by morning light will result in more reliable data. "You could never find me," Seymour told ABC7 News, recalling his own 18 years of homelessness. However, the exclusion of community volunteers from the process has raised questions about transparency. The SF Coalition on Homelessness suspects that relying solely on city employees could mean an inaccurate count, as was the case in past vehicle counts.
The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing also plans to incorporate surveys asking individuals whether they're homeless and what led to their situation, according to an interview with the department's Deputy Director of Communication, Emily Cohen, who spoke with ABC7 News. This layered approach aims to provide "the most accurate picture possible," said Cohen. And yet, advocates remain concerned that these methodological changes will render the count less open and participatory than it needs to be for real accountability.
Over at the SF Examiner, concerns about the comparability of data persist. Changing the count's timing might lead to a "apples and oranges" situation, according to Code Tenderloin founder Del Seymour. Despite potential improvements, comparing the new count with past ones could prove challenging, making it difficult to track trends accurately. Seymour also mentioned alternative data collection methods, suggesting that The City could tap into resource-use records or visitor logs at SROs to capture a fuller picture of those experiencing homelessness.
