By Mary O’KEEFE

The Homeless Count 2020 was conducted last week throughout California. In Glendale the count took place on Jan. 22 from 7 p.m. to midnight.

The purpose of the homeless count is to give cities and counties an idea of how many people are experiencing homelessness, at least on that one night. Counts like the one in California are conducted throughout the nation. The count prior to Jan. 22 found over 50,000 homeless within LA County.

Although the numbers are not out, the City of Glendale appears to have fewer homeless this year than last, according to Ivet Samvelyan, Community Services manager for the City of Glendale.

Forty people had been trained to participate in the Glendale count; however 10 of those were unable to help on Jan. 22.

Samvelyan said that 30 people were enough to conduct the count, which included volunteers, members of her department and Glendale police officers. The officers were assigned to their area command sections and worked with volunteers.

“The teams go out to the hot spots first with locations like underground parking and abandoned parking lots,” Samvelyan said.

They also look at abandoned buildings and isolated facilities.

“We were not able to find too many [homeless],” she said of the far north area of Glendale.

Samvelyan said homeless in the Crescenta Valley are typically more mobile; they move from the cities of Sunland-Tujunga and Glendale to the unincorporated area of LA County/La Crescenta. She knows this does make the count difficult.

“There are some undercounted folks,” she said.

Volunteers did find a few homeless in the far north area of Glendale including a man whose name CVW will not share due to privacy issues. due to privacy issues. He lives in his vehicle.

“I was born in Nevada on the road traveling with four other brothers,” he said. “We traveled every day of our lives and I just kept on traveling.”

He spends a lot of his time in California because, in his youth, he loved coming to the state.

“[I’ve spent] pretty much half of my life in California,” he said. “I love it … it’s the most amazing place ever.”

He said he raised enough money to buy his car and spends his time traveling. He will drive from the Angeles National Forest to Los Angeles.

Last year there were several elderly homeless as well as families throughout Glendale but Samvelyan saw a drop this year and is certain why the city is seeing a reduction. 

“We received $1.7 million in additional funding from the homeless emergency housing fund and California emergency housing fund,” she said. “It was a one time funding.”

Samvelyan and her staff put that funding to use in developing a rapid re-housing program with three new agencies that applied for funding in Glendale.

“We expanded our emergency facilities at Ascencia with five additional beds,” she said, “and expanded beds from 10 to 12 at the Y and are [hoping] to expand to 16 later this year.”

The City also added four new programs to help the homeless get housing quickly.

Samvelyan has been working with the homeless for about 20 years. She has built bridges among homeless shelters, programs, police and hospitals so Glendale as a community responds to the homeless crisis.

She said Glendale is smaller than Los Angeles and is able to follow up with homeless people easier than in a larger city. But it still takes innovative ideas and forethought to create programs that are successful.

“Glendale police and our outreach team just don’t clean out [encampments] and leave,” she said. “We talk to the people. We try to get them resources.”

They have case managers who go out to the streets and follow up with individuals to coordinate housing and help. Samvelyan’s department is working with Glendale Adventist Hospital to be kept informed when a person is being released to the streets. This is often a cycle of homelessness, hospitalization, discharged to the streets only to return to the hospital. Now the discharge planners make certain the City is contacted before a patient is released back to the streets.

There are some issues that Glendale must still face, like the need for more robust mental health services and substance abuse programs.

Samvelyan said one thing that needs more attention is outreach. She wants those who are homeless, or close to homelessness, to know the resources that are available to them.

For more information on services available, visit www.glendaleca.gov and go to Homeless Services. Or for homeless services or to report outreach services contact (818) 246-7900. Ascencia outreach is (818) 254-5885 or (818) 984-1135. City of Glendale outreach is (818) 551-6917.

  Mary Okeefe