Annual count gets under way on Wednesday

Michelle Rivera and Crystal Canapo spent about an hour searching a trailer park in Burlington before they found whom they were looking for.

The Skagit County Community Action employees knocked on every trailer door and asked if anyone inside considered themselves homeless as part of the Point-In-Time Count the agency conducts every year.

Rivera and Canapo asked people in more than 20 homes, many of whom refused to come out, before they found Steven Cruz, one of the hundreds of homeless Community Action scoured the county for Wednesday. People living with family or friends, in transitional housing or with several people in a small area such as a trailer are considered homeless in the count.

Community Action also set up three polling locations and sent out employees in search of homeless individuals under bridges, at Laundromats and trailer parks.

The numbers are compiled and turned in to the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development each year. The agency also uses the numbers for grant applications.

Cruz, 30, separated with his wife last year and was trying to get back on his feet. He lives with his cousin in Burlington and just got a job at a fast-food restaurant after more than six months of unemployment.

Cruz filled out a small questionnaire about himself, including information about military service, disabilities, his living situation and cause of homelessness. They left him with some donated toiletries and clothing, plus invitations to a free dinner that evening.

Last year, Community Action reported 1,142 homeless and 584 homeless households. Those figures were down from 2007, with 2,247 homeless, but Housing Coordinator Stacy Miller said the count was likely inaccurate since Community Action saw no decrease in services.

Finding some of the homeless is easy. The agency holds waiting lists for hundreds of people looking for housing. Others receive services from the agency and know to stop by. But those wandering without assistance take a little more work.

Rivera and Canapo talked to dozens of people at the trailer park in Burlington, but only a few filled out a form.

Miller said people are nervous when someone comes knocking on a door with a clipboard in hand.

“Some people are fearful that they’re going to lose their kids,” Miller said. “People are also uncomfortable admitting that they’re homeless.”

Miller said about 20 people from the same park came in the afternoon to Community Action, where they were offered haircuts, meals and supplies such as tarps, blankets, socks and winter gear.

To counter the fears, and to improve the low and possibly inaccurate numbers from last year, Community Action offered meals at three polling stations in Mount Vernon, Concrete and Sedro-Woolley. The agency also set up tables with handouts at the Department of Social and Health Services and at WorkSource Skagit in Mount Vernon.

Few homeless individuals came through the doors of the Ted Anderson Resource Center in Concrete.

Lou Hillman, east county resource center coordinator, collected three surveys Tuesday, and said four more completed forms Wednesday afternoon.

That morning, a handful of people came in to ask Hillman questions about the center’s other services, but none said they considered themselves homeless.

One young couple was looking for energy assistance funding, while another man insisted that he was “landless, not homeless” after Hillman told him about the survey.

Hillman then suggested he take a tarp with him, and he obliged.

Hillman said the four individuals who came in Wednesday left with supplies and food.

“It’s almost like we have to bribe people,” she said.

Hillman said she will continue to administer the homeless count until Friday despite the small turnout. More homeless people may come by the center as the week goes on.

“We know we have a lot of homeless people, but they often just don’t come in,” she said. “We have flyers up all over town, but sometimes people are just too proud to come in.”

The types of homeless people in Concrete typically vary from those found in other parts of the county, Miller said. A large number of disabled veterans or low-income residents live in the Concrete area.

“It’s hard for us to find people upriver sometimes,” Miller said.

About 50 homeless individuals filled out the survey in Concrete last year.

Miller said women and children make up the majority of those counted each year, but numbers of former military are quickly rising.

“They’ve been out for long enough that their financial resources have run dry,” Miller said.

Community Action staff and some homeless paused in the evening to hold a candlelight vigil in front of the Skagit County Courthouse. More than 30 people attended. Afterward, the counting continued at a dinner at Crossroads Covenant Church in Burlington.

Totals from the count are expected to be available in two to three weeks.

Aaron Burkhalter can be reached at 360-416-2141 or .
Adam Rudnick can be reached at 360-416-2112 or .