IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
San Bernardino County found housing for about 500 homeless military veterans last year.
County officials identified 401 veterans who were living in the county but did not have permanent place of residence, according to a statement released Thursday.
All of those veterans were found a home by Thanksgiving.
About 100 more veterans who either became homeless after the count was finished or who were already homeless and came into the county during that time were found a place to live by the end of 2015, county officials said.
Unfortunately, 100 or so veterans remain homeless, according to the statement.
The county’s effort began after the board of supervisors conducted a study on homelessness last year and decided it had to do something to solve its homeless problem, county spokesman David Wert said.
“When you look at the entire problem of homelessness it’s so big and so overwhelming that start to think that there’s no way it can ever be solved,” Wert said. “But when you break it down into [categories] you start to see that it is solvable.”
One obstacle in trying to help the homeless is convincing landlords to lease to them. To overcome that, the county freed up some one-time general fund revenues to cover security deposits and other costs.
“I think there’s some fear that [homeless people] won’t pay their rent or they won’t treat the property well, but that’s usually not the case,” Wert said. “They’re like any other tenant, and eventually the landlords start to realize that.”
San Bernardino County will continue its efforts to help homeless people this year, Wert said.
