San Clemente disputes the county’s Point in Time homeless count — again
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Most Orange County cities have welcomed the findings of a biennial homeless count released last month with data showing measurable, and even unprecedented progress.
Point in Time, as the federally required count is known, charted an overall 13.7% decrease in O.C. homelessness from 2024. Homeless people living on the streets fell even further by almost 27%.
For the first time in the O.C. count’s history, the share of sheltered homeless outnumbered unsheltered people.
But San Clemente met the PIT count with contempt and challenged its findings as the City Council debated how to officially respond to county officials.
“Close your ears,” Mayor Rick Loeffler told the audience during Tuesday’s City Council meeting. “This is bull—.”
The 100-bed Airway Avenue shelter will be operated by Volunteers of America Los Angeles starting July 1, under a three-year, $2,066,864 contract that may be extended another two years.
The count charted an increase in both unsheltered and sheltered homeless people in San Clemente, the sole south O.C. city not to show an overall downward trend.
The number of people living on the streets rose to 74, an increase by nine from the 2024 report. Sheltered homeless people also increased from 36 to 39 in that same time.
Adam Atamian, San Clemente’s community development director, previously questioned the PIT count’s methodology when, in 2024, it charted a decrease in both unsheltered and sheltered homeless people from two years prior. He criticized a “follow up” count by City Net and aired concerns that observational counts tallied people who looked homeless, but may not have been.
City staff countered by claiming the true number of unsheltered people was 28, not 65, that year.
With the numbers trending upward for San Clemente in 2026, Atamain lodged many of the same complaints about the PIT count’s methodology. He floated an additional concern of people sleeping at state parks being counted as San Clemente homeless outside of the city’s jurisdiction, but without evidence.
Doug Becht, the county’s Care Coordination director, told TimesOC that the PIT count is carried out in compliance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development guidelines.
The PIT count, which more than 1,300 volunteers carried out over three days in late January, is subject to a vetting process to ensure accuracy. Its methodology remains unchanged since 2019.
The county’s Office of Care Coordination works in partnership with City Net, a homeless services nonprofit, and the Institute for Urban Initiatives to review initial findings for any discrepancies or redundancies.
“The methodology for the unsheltered population is a simple canvassing of the entire county, using ArcGIS maps and a mobile survey application,” Becht said. “The survey included questions required by HUD, as well as additional local questions to deepen Orange County’s understanding of people experiencing homelessness.”
He defended the veracity of the results as ones gathered in alignment with national best practices and welcomed any questions cities might have.
But San Clemente city officials continued to cast doubt on the findings at Tuesday’s meeting.
Councilmember Victor Cabral called the tallies for San Clemente “pure fiction.”
The city’s pair of community outreach workers also disputed the statistics.
“We’re the only city [in south O.C.] on the Point in Time count that increased,” Troy Shenker, a community outreach worker, told councilmembers. “[It’s] a huge slap in the face … saying that we’re the only outreach program in southern [O.C.] that did not make any progress.”
San Clemente isn’t alone in seeing an increase in unsheltered homelessness in an otherwise positive count for the county. A few cities in northern and central O.C., where much of the county’s homeless population is concentrated, also charted a rise.
Garden Grove saw 55 more people living on the streets than counted in 2024. Orange and Yorba Linda had slightest increases in that category. Unincorporated county areas from north to south, at times, spiked dramatically in the number of unsheltered homeless people.
San Clemente officials want to clarify who can argue for and against a sales tax hike for beach erosion and wildfire protection projects before putting it on the ballot.
Councilmembers focused more on their southern and coastal neighbors, though, in crying foul.
“Theoretically, we have more homeless in this town than Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita [and] San Juan Capistrano,” Cabral said. “[We] alone have more than all those cities. It’s just not accurate. It’s not true.”
The south O.C. city with the nearest total tally is Laguna Beach, but most of its 86 homeless people are sheltered.
Councilmember Zhen Wu wanted to know if the numbers only gave San Clemente an apparent bad look or were more consequential.
“We’ve had to update our zoning ordinance to modify our requirements for emergency shelters in contemplation of the 2024 point time count,” Atamian said. “There’s a very good chance that we’re going have to update that again.”
At the start of the discussion, Atamian sought direction on an official letter to county officials about San Clemente’s concerns. By the end of the conversation, a council consensus backed the request.
