Pet care proves a big draw for census of homeless

Ventura County social workers fanned out across the region this week to count the homeless. They trudged through river bottoms, staked out beach-side campsites and called on food pantries and social service agencies, any place where the homeless might gather.

But on Friday, the homeless -- and their pets -- came to them. More than 40 people lined up outside Span Thrift Store in Ventura where, to aid the biannual count, county officials had set up a free veterinary clinic.

Pets could get free licenses, rabies and flu shots, collars and leashes. Owners could also arrange follow-up care, such as spaying and neutering, or, in one case, possible surgery at the local animal shelter to remove a dog’s cataracts.

In return, participants were asked to add their names to the census list used to help local social service agencies obtain federal funding. Denise Callaway, the county animal control officer who helped coordinate the clinic, said that pets are an emotional lifeline for many homeless people and so it was a natural lure.

“Their animals are all some of them have,” Callaway said. “They keep them going, it’s what gives them purpose. They have to get up and go out and do these things because their animals need them. And everyone needs to feel needed, it’s important.”

Elena Petersen and Maddie, her 13-year-old Staffordshire terrier, attended Friday’s clinic. Petersen said being a dog owner is a big responsibility for anyone but the task is much more difficult for someone with little means.

“Basically, I’m homeless because I have a dog,” she said. “I’m on a fixed income, I’m on Social Security. And finding housing with an animal is almost impossible.”

Still, Petersen considers herself fortunate because she has a spot at Ventura’s River Haven, a community of tent dwellers on city-owned land near the mouth of the Santa Clara River. The camp is run by and for homeless residents and it accepts pets.

“At River Haven, everybody loves her,” Petersen said of Maddie. “She’s just that kind of a dog. You should see her work a crowd.”

Andrew Schreier, another River Haven resident who attended the pet clinic with his dog Tarrin, said he helped census volunteers earlier this week locate other homeless people to ensure a proper count. Previous tallies were too limited to be accurate, he said.

“If I were to try to go to the shelter, they’d tell me to give up my dog,” Schreier said. “I can’t do that. He’s my best friend.”

The county’s homeless survey is part of a nationwide effort to collect a more accurate count of this growing population. The survey is being conducted by the Ventura County Homeless and Housing Coalition, the county’s Human Services Agency and hundreds of volunteers from housing and nonprofit groups.

As a prerequisite for federal funding for homeless programs, communities must assess the number of homeless in their jurisdictions every two years beginning in January.

To overcome participants’ reluctance and fear, census takers asked people only for the initials of their first and last names and whether they consider themselves homeless. If so, they are then asked the year and state where they were born, their ethnicity, where they spent the previous night and which city they considered home.

“There are far too many people who experience the tragedy of homelessness,” said Nan Roman, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Alliance to End Homelessness. “In Ventura County and other places across the country, a lack of affordable housing is often the root of this problem.”

The alliance earlier this month released a nationwide assessment of the homeless based on data from January 2005, when 744,313 individuals were homeless on a single night. In Ventura County, the number reached nearly 2,000 people, with almost a third of them in Oxnard.

Karol Schulkin, the county’s director of homeless services, said the county’s population fluctuates but that “over the course of the year, there are maybe 6,000 who come in and out of homelessness.” With average rents in the county hovering near $1,400 a month, it can be tough for some to save enough to secure housing, Schulkin said.

“These people are going to be someplace,” she said, “so if we don’t find them something that’s clean, decent and affordable, you’re going to see them in the parks and on the streets.”

greg.griggs@latimes.com