Contra Costa County volunteers brave rain to count unhoused population

CONCORD, Calif. - Contra Costa County is doing its annual count of residents experiencing homelessness. About 200 volunteers were out in the rain early Wednesday morning to help try to get an accurate count.

The data will be used to help secure funding for programs to help people get back on their feet.

"It’s cold, it’s rainy. And people live in this day in and day out. And it is critical on days like today that we get as accurate a count as possible because that is really helping the resources come into our community," said Christy Saxton, director of health, housing and homelessness services at Contra Costa Health.

"This count really drives a lot of the significant funding that comes in to serve this population," said Anna Roth, the Contra Costa County Health director.

The funding, from federal, state, or local grants, could help create more affordable housing.

Using state funding from Gov. Gavin Newsom's Homekey program, Contra Costa County was recently able to convert a Pittsburgh motel into temporary housing, and open a new housing complex in San Pablo. But leaders say that's not enough.

"Nobody is exempt from becoming homeless. Nobody is. So I always do my best to encourage people and give them hope," said Wilfredo Vega, the site supervisor at the Concord Adult Shelter.

He said the area needs more resources like the ones provided at the shelter.

Danny Do has been staying at the shelter for about seven months. He said he became homeless after he lost his job in construction. Now he is trying to start anew.

"If you do your things right, and you want to get back to your life you have to push yourself to do it," said Do.

The goal is to get everyone in the shelter to a place where they can have their own permanent housing.

"There’s nothing like seeing them when they get their key to their apartment and they open their door. It’s a feeling like you won’t believe," said Vega.

"There’s so much work going on, but we actually continue to have really almost indescribable suffering going on within this population," said Roth.

Alameda and San Mateo counties will do their count on Thursday. It will take several weeks before the results are released.