Hundreds of people in Clallam and Jefferson counties are living in tents, on beaches, in cars or drifting from couch to couch and considered homeless in a recent statewide survey.
On a day in October, more than 100 people in Clallam and Jefferson counties set out to take a census of the North Olympic Peninsula’s homeless population.
The number of homeless was much higher than previous estimates reflected.
“I would say that the numbers are going to surprise the citizens of both counties,” said Vanessa Brower, housing services director for OlyCAP — Olympic Community Action Programs — in Port Townsend.
“There are folks who think that we don’t have a homeless problem at all, and then there’s the folks who think we have five homeless folks, and then there’s those who think we have 5,000,” she said.
In Clallam County, the number is closer to 900 based on initial survey information, said Kathy Wahto, executive director of Serenity House in Port Angeles.
But the real figure is probably higher because populations living in the woods, in cars or on couches were more difficult to access, she said.
“We missed way more than we ever counted.”
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