Countywide : Housing Costs Cited in Homeless Survey

The most comprehensive survey of Orange County’s homeless in five years suggests that most are victims of the high cost of housing, and most in need of help paying their first month’s rent.

In addition, the study says, most of the homeless do not fit the stereotype of a drug- or alcohol-addicted, mentally ill transient who rejects assistance and chooses a rootless life style.

Many are young--baby boomers who lack a college education, marketable skills and who are forced into the streets by the high cost of housing.

Those are the key findings of a survey of nearly 2,000 homeless people sponsored by the Orange County Homeless Issues Task Force.

The study, released Wednesday at a Santa Ana news conference, is intended to aid service providers in pinpointing the community’s specific needs.

“It will allow us to help begin to direct our goals and objectives, what we will be doing as a task force in the next few years,” task force Chairman Scott Mather said.

The task force also hopes that the survey will aid local officials in devising broader solutions to end homelessness--and spur increased spending on the problem.

“Right now I think there is a recognition of the problem, but it boils down to funding,” said Joel W. Rosen, a senior planner with the city of Fullerton and a member of the task force research committee that presented the survey findings. “Cities must deal with competing resources, and it creates serious problems,” he said.

Questionnaires were distributed in January and February, 1989, at 17 agencies, including all four county welfare offices, a mental-health drop-in center, homeless shelters, a center for the disabled, and the Santa Ana and Fullerton National Guard armories, which shelter the homeless during inclement weather.

Task force members noted that the survey was not designed to provide a count of homeless in Orange County, generally estimated to range between 6,000 to 10,000 men, women and children. It has been suggested that those estimates are too high.

But task force members said that the limited survey sample does not necessarily relate to the overall number of homeless in the county, adding that estimates of their number may actually be too low.

“The issue of people not coming forward for help is the same problem you have in trying to determine unemployment,” said James W. Meeker, a UC Irvine professor of social ecology and a member of the task force research committee. “People get so discouraged that they don’t look and are not counted.”

The numbers suggest a disturbing increase in families that are homeless, Mather said.

The survey indicates that Orange County’s homeless do not tend to be a transient population, most saying that they have lived here for three or more years and 41% indicating they have lived here for 10 years or more.

One of the survey questions asked respondents where they had spent the night before completing the questionnaire. The results revealed a “surprising and depressing” number of people who are in a cycle of moving from home to car, to motel, to the street, said John Dombrink, a UC Irvine professor of social ecology who helped prepare the survey.

Orange County’s Homeless In an effort to determine the needs of area homeless, the Orange County Homeless Issues Task Force surveyed 1,974 of an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 homeless people. Employment The task force noted that most surveys were completed during weekday business hours and may have excluded some homeless with jobs. Unemployed, not looking for work: 7% Unemployed, looking for work: 6.’% Part time: 5% Full time: 6% Disabled: 1.3% Retired: 1% Age Officials say Orange County’s homeless reflect a “baby boom” generation who lack a college degree and marketable job skills. Race/ethnicity The homeless generally correspond to Orange County’s demographic profile. Black: 1.7% Asian: 1% Latino-Hispanic: 15% Native American: 3% Other: 2% Adults, Children included in survey Children represent about 36 percent of the homeless surveyed. Adults with children: 421 Adults without children: 843 Children: 710 Length of time homeless The survey indicates that respondents are a mix of newly homeless and those who have been without permanent home for a longer period. Where the homeless sleep Respondentss were asked where they had spent the previous night. A “surprising and depressing “number-25%-were forced to sleep in their cars.