Three of four communities in the upper Yakima Valley showed reductions in the numbers of homeless individuals counted during the 2010 Point in Time survey taken in January.
Reductions ranged from 10 percent in Toppenish to 89 percent in Granger, according to results presented to Yakima County Commissioners May 4.
The Zillah count was down by 46 percent and the Wapato count was unchanged.
Countywide, the count was 9 percent lower than last year.
Tim Sullivan, Yakima County Department of Human Services Housing and Homeless Programs Manager, attributed the lower numbers to improved accuracy of the counting and tabulation processes.
This was the seventh year the count has been taken, and Sullivan characterized it as “really the base year” for the survey.
“The data integrity was the best it’s been,” Sullivan said.
He said the two main conclusions to be drawn from the survey results were that there were more people in housing, and that there was a decrease in chronic homelessness.
Sullivan said providers of services to homeless people were reporting that they were seeing more new faces and more families.
He said that was a new trend, but he also expressed doubt that it would continue.
“I think it will stabilize or decrease,” Sullivan said.
Total homeless counts reported in the PIT survey for area communities were as follows:
Toppenish, 77, down from 86 last year; Zillah, 13, down from 24 last year; Granger, 7 down from 62; Wapato, 104, unchanged.
The city with the biggest increase from last year in terms of percentage was Grandview, which increased 178 percent, from 9 to 25.
The number of homeless counted in Yakima increased from 418 to 726.