Homelessness is dropping on the North Olympic Peninsula — but fear of homelessness is up.
As part of Clallam County’s Jan. 22 and Jan. 29 Point In Time census of the homeless in Port Angeles, Sequim and the West End, census takers witnessed a new phenomena: those with stable roofs over their heads are filled with angst over the future.
It’s gnawing at those who have stable shelter now, but they fear that as the year progresses, the economy will worsen and they, too, will become homeless.
“They were fearful of losing their housing six to eight months from now,” said Clallam County census organizer Kathy Wahto, executive director of Serenity House in Port Angeles, which coordinated the count with other public and private agencies.
“They didn’t qualify as homeless, but they wanted information because they believed they were at high risk.”
In Jefferson County, there’s “absolutely” been an increase in residents fearful of homelessness asking about rental assistance and other services, said deForest Walker, director of Olympic Community Action Programs’ housing services division.
“We’ve seen people saying, ‘I know I can’t pay this month’s rent,’ who think they are going to get evicted,” she said.
Numbers drop in Clallam
Preliminary results of the homeless survey for Clallam County show numbers dropped from the January 2008 count by 13.6 percent to 632 people, Wahto said.
Walker was reluctant to comment on the Jan. 29 Point in Time survey results until they are fully tabulated in a few weeks.
But compared to 2008, “my sense is, we’ve seen our numbers go down a little bit,” she said.
That’s because last year a park ranger found homeless people camping in campgrounds.
“When we went there this year, they weren’t there,” she said.
At housing resource fairs in Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks, the homeless could fill out Point in Time census forms and find out about available services, but many attended “who were not homeless but were worried,” Wahto said Wednesday.
Two forms were available to about 125 people who attended the fairs to find out what motivated them to attend, Wahto said.
The homeless filled out forms that asked about their living situation, what caused them to become homeless and their source of income, if any.
About 40 non-homeless participants filled out different forms asking why they attended the fairs and their concerns about their economic situation.
“The huge response was loss of income,” Wahto said.
“They came because their income was down or lost or they did not think they would get re-employed and this was going to put everything at risk, including their housing.”
The fearful attended fairs in equal measure at all three locations in Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks, she said.
Some of the non-homeless participants attended the fairs to gather information for loved ones.
“One said, ‘Our son is in terrible straits. He lost his job and he has two small children,'” Wahto recalled.
“They were gathering information for what looked like a family crisis coming up.”
So while Wahto believes the county’s approach to homelessness appears to be working ¬– 1,055 homeless were counted in 2006, or 40 percent higher than in 2009 — she said she knows there will be “a new impact from the economy and we’d better prepare for it now.”
Looking toward mid-year
Wahto said a bad economy nationally tends to hit the Peninsula after the rest of the country, so she expects a “significant percentage” of Clallam County residents will need social services beginning mid-year.
Clallam County’s unemployment rate increased from 6.9 percent in December 2007 to 8.7 percent in December 2008, while Jefferson County’s unemployment rate was 7 percent in December 2008 compared to 4.7 percent in December 2007.
“We don’t know when the tsunami will hit, but we expect there to be a wave of demand,” Wahto said.
“We’re trying to create strategies around what we think will happen starting relatively soon and going on for the next 18 months to two years.”
The nation’s sour economy also limited the group of volunteers who in the past have helped conduct the census, Wahto said.
The Veterans Conservation Corps has been effective at getting census responses from veterans who have cut themselves off from human contact, but could not participate this year.
“Their funding was severely cut back,” Wahto said.
That was offset to a degree by more involvement by law enforcement personnel and schools, she said.
“But we did not have people on the West End working with people who proverbially are living in the woods and don’t have contact with the population like we did last year,” Wahto said.
The non-homeless were surveyed only at the housing resource fairs.
Elsewhere, census volunteers visited medical clinics, social services agencies and places where the homeless gather, asking homeless individuals and persons in families to fill out forms describing their needs and asking: “Where did you stay last night?”
Their answers: an emergency shelter (short-term up to 90 days); a transitional shelter (up to two-year program that includes case management); permanent supportive housing (no time limits on length of stay, includes case management); with family or friends, a vehicle, an abandoned building, “out of doors” or “currently in jail.”
Wahto said the results show a drop in homeless forced to sleep out of doors, from 77 in 2008 to 61 in 2009, which she attributed to better outreach services.
The count of homeless is mandated by state law.
The census results are entered into the Homelessness Management Information System of the state Department of Community, Trade & Economic Development.
They are used to determine the depth of the problem and the services needed to address it, according to the agency’s Web site, www.cted.wa.gov.
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Staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
