Homeless Count Rises in Murrieta

There are eight times as many homeless people living on the streets in Murrieta than there were two years ago, and the double the amount in Riverside County.

During "point-in-time" surveys conducted in January by volunteers with the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services, 40 unsheltered homeless persons were counted in Murrieta. That number was up from five in 2009 and eight in 2007.

In Temecula, there were 162 unsheltered homeless people. Lake Elsinore had 113, Wildomar had 20 and Menifee had three.

Volunteers counted a total 6,203 homeless people in Riverside County, 5,090 of those living on the streets or in parks, in abandoned buildings, beneath freeway overpasses and in transient camps, underscoring the toll of the economic downturn on the region, according to figures released Monday.

That figure compares to 3,366 people living under similar circumstances in 2009, DPSS officials said.  

The department's deputy director, Ronald Stewart, attributed the 84 percent spike to the recession.

"Record unemployment and housing foreclosures made Riverside County one of the hardest-hit areas in the state and nation,'' he said. "This year's count clearly indicates the economic downturn has pushed more people out of their homes and has left them homeless longer.''   

About 200 volunteers and county staff conducted the surveys, Stewart said.

The enumerating took place Jan. 24-25 between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Additionally, homeless shelters turned in their counts the evening of Jan. 23. Children and youth were included in the total count.

Only 17 percent of the County's homeless population are housed in shelters or transitional housing, according to the report. Families made up less than 1 percent of the County's unsheltered homeless, but were 47 percent of the sheltered homeless population of 1,113.

The survey indicated that the number of people identified as chronically homeless--on the street for more than a year or intermittently unsheltered four or more times in three years--had surged 160 percent.   

Between 2007 and 2009, the number of homeless veterans increased slightly from 13 to 14 percent, and the number of homeless people with chronic health issues jumped from 22 to 29 percent, according to the report.   

Of the 26 incorporated cities in Riverside County at the time of the surveys, Riverside had the highest number of dispossessed people--1,430--figures showed.

There were a total of 2,184 homeless in the unincorporated communities. Near Murrieta, the unincorporated area of Winchester had 156 unsheltered homeless. Sun City had 29.

Point-in-time surveys were instituted by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development in 2005 and are a condition of federal funding for homeless relief in localities.   

According to Stewart, DPSS receives about $6.5 million in HUD funds to support homeless programs annually.   

Project TOUCH, a Murrieta-based nonprofit, formerly operated a shelter in Murrieta before it moved the operation to Temecula, where it has changed locations at least twice.

The volunteer-run organization shelters homeless people from all over southwest Riverside County during cold and rainy weather. Project TOUCH stands for “Together Our Unity Conquers Homelessness.”

The shelter's current location, at 29385 Rancho California Road in Temecula--the former home of Mountain View Community Church--is for sale for $3.1 million. Project TOUCH is hoping to buy the property and make it a permanent homeless shelter for the area's homeless.

According to Murrieta resident Anne Unmacht, executive director of the Project TOUCH, the building is zoned for a homeless shelter.

Those experiencing homelessness--or who know someone who is--can visit the website 211 or call 800-464-1123.

City News Service and Mirna Alfonso contributed to this report.