First of two parts

Counting the homeless, whether the relatively modest crowd in Culver City or the thousands across Los Angeles County, is enormously complicated, surveyors quickly learn.

It isn’t even close to driving down a street and ticking off 1-2-3 people.

The County and City Hall make separate counts for Culver City.

Tevis Barnes, Housing Administrator for Culver City, explains.

“The count has two categories,” she says, “sheltered and unsheltered.

“Sheltered people are homeless, but they are sheltered in an emergency shelter, a transitional living facility or they have a motel voucher. They are homeless, but they are working with an agency, and they have temporary housing.”

For Culver City, the sheltered count is 42.

“That,” said Ms. Barnes, “reflects the families living at Upward Bound House” on Washington Boulevard.

Upward Bound offers 18 separate rooms that can accommodate three or four persons.

In theory, all 42 sheltered could be there.

By the County’s survey of the unsheltered homeless – people living in cars, vans, RVs, tents, small encampments – Ms. Barnes said the (huge) number is 185.

That means a whopping 227 homeless in Culver City.

“Let me explain,” Ms. Barnes said. “There are two versions. There is the raw street count, which we do when we actually go out and count the people.

“Here is why our numbers differ from the County’s count.

“The County applies a formula to the cars and vans and campers and RVs.”

By contrast, “we count each as one because we cannot go inside (and verify).”

(To be continued)