PPTFH Conducts First Homeless Count Since 2020

By MAGNOLIA LAFLEUR | Reporter

Over 40 volunteers gathered early Wednesday morning, February 23, for the annual Homeless Count in Pacific Palisades, organized by Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness.

Palisadians and individuals from neighboring cities were divvied up into 10 teams to peruse all areas of the Palisades and conduct a census of individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

Co-president of PPTFH Sharon Kilbride led the count with Senior Lead Officer Brian Espin. Kilbride explained how significant the count was, stating the need for the Task Force to have a baseline of data.

“It is always interesting to see how we compare to the rest of Los Angeles and see how we are doing,” Sharon told the Palisadian-Post. “The Palisades’ count numbers of unhoused individuals have dropped every year since we formed in 2016. We believe that because of the work PPTFH does we have made a difference in solving homelessness in our community.”

Jessi Cortez, the Outreach and Engagement Specialist for the Pacific Palisades at The People Concern, said he has been working with PPTFH and entities across the greater Los Angeles area, connecting and helping the homeless population.

“I think the count is important because it provides a picture of how many people are experiencing homelessness in our county,” Cortez said. “It also gives people a chance to see for themselves how many people are living on the streets and could offer some deeper understanding of all of the work that needs to be done.”

Through participating, Cortez said he has observed that many homeless individuals do not stay in the Palisades. He says many are transients “passing through” town, with a large percentage coming from Venice, Santa Monica and Malibu.

First time volunteer Jessica Rogers shared that she was happy to be involved with the community, raise awareness and assist in the Homeless Count.

“My hope … is that we can affect change at the state and federal level if we can show the true numbers of what we are dealing with,” Rogers said to the Post. “On our route, we found several people sleeping in cars. Under normal circumstances, they would most likely go unnoticed because they were not damaged [and] broken down cars. There seems to be a misperception of homelessness because what we mostly see are the severely mentally ill or drug-addicted individuals wandering the streets and creating makeshift settlement in random public areas.

“We have a real humanitarian crisis that involves many people living in their vehicles, couch surfing, renting space in motels … If we are able to help people before they end up in a shelter or on the streets, it is much easier to rehabilitate them and get them back to being independent.”

The Homeless Count reflected that while there was a significant increase of 65% in vehicle dwellers since 2020, there has not been an increase in the number of homeless individuals in the past two years, according to Site Coordinator David Morena.

After the count, Kilbride was honored with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Captain Award presented by Captain Jonathan Tom.

“Our LAPD partnership is a vital part of PPTFH’s success. Our Beach Detail is key in keeping our hillsides free of encampments and fire dangers,” Kilbride said. “It is an honor to work with our LAPD Beach Detail who are compassionate towards our unsheltered population and always willing to direct them to our service providers from the People Concern. We are fortunate to have this unit working directly with our volunteers from PPTFH.”

For more information or to donate, visit pptfh.org.