• PIT Count 2020

Here's a brief recap of the 2020 PIT Count. 

If you're asking what a "PIT Count" is, it's a Point In Time count of the homeless. The mandate was to stop counting by 9:30am, we started in the field at about 6:30am after a 5:30am meeting at the Lake Elsinore Cultural Center.

This will be a photo driven blog, with more than three dozen photos, but I'll tell you upfront that we only counted four people. There were three interviews and one sighting as we were driving. Other than that, we mostly encountered empty tents or other makeshift abodes.

At the morning briefing at Lake Elsinore's Cultural Center.
Photo originally on SWAG's Facebook page.

As the sun was coming up just east of Inland Valley Drive. 

This was our second stop. We had started out behind the USA gas station and interviewed two men. As it turned out, we only found one other person "at home" for the interview. This location was east of Inland Valley and north of Kaiser.

This was one of the more eyeopening parts of the day. This is the entrance to a tunnel that goes from the north side of Clinton Keith and east of Iodine Springs, under Clinton Keith and let's out a bit northeast of City Hall.

The first part of the tunnel/pipe was corrugated metal.

This shot was better illuminated with my flashlight.

The midway part of the structure was the living quarters, but again, no one was there. You can see at the right side of the photo an area that was about eight to ten feet lower than the main path. That is where a mattress and other garbage was located. 

Surprisingly, it didn't reek. Also, the temperature was rather nice compared to the outside temps.

Creature comforts, and looks like someone had done a Trader Joe's run too.

The inner artist will out.

This wheelchair was located near the end of the tunnel.

I guess it was good that no one was home here. 

Anyone missing a mountain bike?

We parked near The Habit and then trekked about a quarter of mile along the freeway, heading south, to the next spot

This was our third and final interview of the morning.

If you're missing part of your baseball card collection from 1981, I think I found about a dozen cards. Sorry to report that your triples of Al Oliver are no longer in mint condition.

You can see City Hall on the horizon of this photo as we headed for the tunnel that goes under the freeway.

Easy access to the tunnel as the fence has been gently peeled away.

In we go.

Most of us bumped our heads more than once through this, at most the ceiling was five feet high. It was a workout to walk hunched over, and it got a little claustrophobic too.

We emerged on the eastside of the freeway, just under the drive thru line at Starbucks. That was a major work out for our glutes. I have a feeling that there will be some lingering soreness this evening.

We came across this marker as we walked towards the back of McDonald's. Back in 2015 a dead body had been discovered in this area.

There was a surprisingly large amount of room among the oak trees that most of us never do more than drive by as we enter the Albertsons shopping center.

A full sized couch was at the bottom of this area. At first we weren't sure if someone was asleep there or not.

The area would make for a nice parklike setting with the right kind of attention.

One of many things discarded down there.

It was sad how much garbage there was down there.

Most of the group chose not to go into this narrow pipe. It went under the driveway that acts as the primary ingress/egress to Albertsons.

We parked on Stable Lanes Road and trudged up the hill. Again, most of us just drive by this area, and we end up missing out on how large this area is. 

One thing you can say about this camp that can't be said about any of the others... at least this is "clean". Look at all the filled trash bags. This is probably less than 50 yards from Clinton Keith.

Scattered bedding about 25 yards to the east of the white tent above.

You can see some terracing into the hillside here. I was told that last year there was a tent and what amounted to as a porch/veranda there.

A rarely seen view of the Clinton Keith/Hidden Springs intersection.

More terracing and other indications of human activity.

A tent and a baby stroller about 100 yards north of Clinton Keith. 

At our last stop, we had to traverse a makeshift bridge over a boggy mire.

Again, no one was home, though it was obvious that this was not an old and abandoned camp.

Was this a decoration or was it for a child? We couldn't determine one way or the other.

A little touch of home.

Final thoughts
It seems that the homeless population has chosen to avoid the PIT Count. Whoever the powers that be are on the state and county level should consider shaking this yearly event up. At this rate, it's turning into a perfunctory measure... checking a box, but not really accomplishing anything. 

Just based on the camps that we visited, my guess is that there have to be at least a dozen regulars, if not two dozen.

The three that we did meet up with were happy to participate, and in exchange they were given a drawstring backpack with toiletries and also a McDonald's breakfast sandwich.

There are no real solutions in the pipeline for this problem. A problem that makes everyone's lives more difficult. Be it that of the community, of local businesses, of our first responders and more difficult for those going unsheltered too. The current approach adopted by the state is a lose-lose-lose-lose.

At this point, all we can do is continue playing whack a mole and hoping that they get tired of street life and finally accept help from SWAG.  

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A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.
– H.L. Mencken

Wildomar Rap is a blog that, when it smells flowers, looks around for tacos.

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