Give Back—Help in the Homeless Count

Thousands of people in San Diego County don’t have a place to call home. They sleep in a shelter or on the streets.

But there’s something you can do to help. The Board of Supervisors is calling on County employees to take part in an effort called the Point-in-Time Count. Those who come forward will be allowed to participate on paid County time. County volunteers would act as enumerators meaning their job is to only count the homeless.

The Point-in-Time count takes place once a year. During the span of several hours, volunteers count all the homeless people they see in a certain area.  Last year, the region’s combined total came to 8,879 people, the third highest number in the nation.

The final count is used to apply for federal funding and it also helps County staff identify the scope of the problem and work on solutions to best serve this at-risk population.

The Regional Task Force on the Homeless is leading the Point-in-Time project with the WeALLCount campaign. The count itself takes place Friday, Jan. 24 from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. and some 1,000 volunteers are needed for the overall effort.

County employees have shown time and again their strong spirit of volunteerism and the Board hopes a great number of you will step forward for this campaign so the count will be an accurate reflection of the homeless problem in our region. 

To sign up, employees need to get approval from their supervisor with a supervisor approval form, and then review the registration guidelines and FAQs. Once completed, they can register for the WeALLCount census on the Task Force’s website. A short training course on LMS is also required. County time is being allowed for both the training and the count itself.