Signs of homelessness

Volunteers visit area as part of annual count

LANCASTER — An abandoned red and white tent lies partially collapsed beneath a large tree along 60th Street West near Avenue H.

The trash left behind at the campsite included a discarded Degree deodorant container, a sock, a clothes hanger and about a dozen pink or blue disposable razors. Pieces of a blue tarp littered the ground. A blue and white cooler was left as well.

Whoever lived there tried to make it like home: there was a wooden chair on its side that looked like it came from a dinner table set and an upside-down recliner. A foot stool that might have made a set with the recliner was about 15 feet away. The rubbish included tree branches and various pieces of wood. There was also a glass vase that maybe was once used for flowers and a Happy Halloween sign.

A dirty, white feral cat looked up from its perch on what looked like a roof of

a small enclosure before it scampered up the tree, apparently frightened by unexpected visitors.

The “visitors” were Nicole Matthews, regional outreach coordinator for Valley Oasis; Charles F. Bostwick, assistant field deputy for Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger; and a reporter. Deputies Carrillo and Paulson from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homeless Outreach Services Team, also known as HOST, followed in a department vehicle.

Bostwick and Matthews drove through their census tract, which included the northeasternmost part of the City of Lancaster’s boundaries west of Division Street. They checked near the retention basin along Avenue H and 20th Street West, where Matthews has seen encampments previously.

Matthews knows where to look for homeless encampments because she visits the area to look for people who she can help. Some of the tips or requests are submitted by members of the public.

“We get concerned residents where people fill out an LA-HOP request,” Matthews said.

LA-HOP is an online homeless outreach portal operated by the LA Homeless Services Authority where people can submit requests for homeless outreach.

One sturdy camp near a large tamarisk tree along 60th Street West was constructed with wood panels. A no trespassing sign that looked like a street sign stuck out of a wood pile.

Matthews and Bostwick were counting makeshift shelters, tents and trailers in their census track as part of the 2023 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, a point in time snapshot of homelessness in Los Angeles County. The count, conducted annually by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority with the help of thousands of volunteers, helps determine the distribution of federal funding and services to people experiencing homelessness. The three-day count started, Tuesday, and concluded, Thursday. The results are expected to be released in late spring or early summer.

As they did, last year, the Antelope Valley’s count, this year, was a closed count, with only service providers and their team of volunteers counting. Participating agencies included the City of Lancaster code enforcement, Valley Oasis, Mental Health America and the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.

About 74 people working in teams of two, with one driver and one counter, met at 6 a.m. at Antelope Valley Partners for Health to get their census tract maps. Volunteers counted 44 census tracts in Palmdale and 50 in Lancaster. A group of special teams counted 57 special tracts including some, on Tuesday, Heather Varden, SPA 1 community relations coordinator for the Los Angeles Services Authority, said.

“Pretty much all of the unincorporated areas were done by special teams,” Varden said. “Palmdale is being done by Palmdale code enforcement.”

The City of Lancaster used LEAPS (Law Enforcement Aerial Platform System), its eye-in-the-sky airplane, to assist with the count, on Tuesday. The airplane was on call, Thursday.