Kern County leaders say homelessness numbers are holding relatively steady… even as the latest Point-in-Time Count shows a slight increase. County officials presented the annual Homeless and Housing Report to supervisors, highlighting new housing units, expanded services, and ongoing concerns about future funding.
Despite the slight increase in homelessness,county officials are optimistic… pointing to expanded outreach, housing placements, and support programs helping more people transition out of homelessness.
Stacy Kuwahara is the Assistant County Administrator, and he says, “One of the things we talk about a lot is the drive on how we define our goals for homelessness. We aim to reduce the inflow, provide high-quality services to those experiencing homelessness, and increase our outflow. And I think we are making a lot of good progress in increasing our outflow from people of homelessness into housing, but at the same time, the inflow into homelessness isn’t getting smaller.”…