Countywide : Coalition to Do Own Census of Homeless

Convinced that last year’s U. S. Census Bureau count of homeless people in Ventura County was far too low, a coalition of social service agencies has begun its own canvass.

An accurate count is important because federal funding for programs assisting the homeless will be determined by the 1990 Census, said Nancy Nazario, coordinator of the new canvass.

“The Census Bureau counted only the people in the shelters or on the street, period,” Nazario said. “They missed all the people staying in the hotels or the campgrounds or in their own cars.”

But Ventura County, for which Nazario works as homeless ombudsman, cannot challenge the unreleased federal census because the county has no accurate tally of its own, she said.

More than 70 agencies will assist in the new survey, which is expected to be completed by March 8 and tabulated for release by July, Nazario said. About two dozen volunteers from Moorpark College and the League of Women Voters are the primary workers in the effort, she said.