Report: Number of homeless in Riverside County rises 12%

Riverside County’s homeless population increased 12% last year, with the number of unsheltered people accounting for the higher total, according to a report that the Board of Supervisors will review Tuesday.

The County Department of Housing & Workforce Solutions is slated to present its findings from the 2023 Point-In-Time homeless survey, conducted at the end of January, as part of the board’s consent agenda.

Results indicate that the countywide homeless population is estimated to be 3,725, compared to 3,316 recorded during the 2022 count.

The number of chronically homeless people who are unsheltered was 2,441, while the sheltered total was 1,284, according to the PIT report. The latter figure dropped 4% year-over-year, while the unsheltered number shot up 23%.

“Increases in homelessness can be attributed to multiple economic and social factors, such as poverty, lack of affordable housing, increasing rental costs and low vacancy rates, community and family breakdown and physical and mental health challenges,” according to the report. “Of the unsheltered individuals surveyed, 27% reported family disruption as the primary factor for their homelessness, lack of income fell second at 19%, and unemployment followed at 12%.”

The lack of affordable living space remains on the front burner of most homeless assistance programs in the county and state.

“Affordable housing is a critical tool used to ensure rents remain affordable for individuals and families,” the county Department of Housing & Workforce Solutions stated. “According to the 2022 Riverside County Housing Need Report, renters in Riverside County need to earn $34.44 per hour — 2.3 times the state minimum wage — to afford the average monthly asking rent of $1,791.”

The PIT report noted that demand for utilization of homeless assistance programs continues to mount. The county’s Continuum of Care Homeless Delivery System, which combines government resources with those of private and nonprofit entities, provided aid to 14,388 individuals between June 2022 and April 2023.

“This is a sharp increase of 22% from last fiscal year, resulting in 625 additional housing placements,” the PIT report said.

The survey showed that supervisorial District 1 had the greatest number of homeless — 1,184 — and within that district, the city of Riverside counted more homeless than any other municipality in the county at 977.

District 4 had the next-highest total of homeless at 1,161, and the majority of those were unsheltered. The district encompasses the Coachella Valley and eastern desert. Indio had the largest homeless population there, tallying 427.

The count in January 2021 was severely curtailed because of the coronavirus public health lockdowns, and volunteers at that time mainly focused on visiting shelters to gauge the homeless population. The figures were not considered to be valid. Prior to then, in 2020, a total of 2,884 individuals were counted as homeless.

In the most recent homeless census, the county marshaled the biggest number of volunteers on record — over 1,000 — to conduct the count over a three-day period. Volunteers from faith-based groups, churches, civic affairs organizations, along with college students and county employees, were involved.

They engaged people living in cars, abandoned buildings, under bridges, in transient encampments, homeless shelters and other places throughout the county.

Data is used by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to determine how to distribute federal homeless relief funding, and by policy makers in determining the scope of homelessness nationwide — including what’s working, and what’s not.

California has the largest number of homeless nationwide, approaching 200,000, accounting for one-third of the total in the U.S., according to federal officials.

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