Before Sunrise, They Looked for Neighbors and Strangers

Redwood City - Susan Takalo arrived a few minutes before 5 a.m., as the moon, a waxing gibbous, appeared to slip into the Pacific Ocean.

In the Ted Adcock Community Center in Half Moon Bay, she was greeted with her assignment: where to look for individuals experiencing homelessness during Thursday's One Day Count, a once-every-two-years survey to locate and record people without stable housing. Sunrise was still two hours away.

"They are our neighbors," Takalo said. "Lots of them work. Lots of them have children. So many people are just a paycheck away from homelessness."

Takalo, recently retired from Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, was one of hundreds of volunteers who fanned out from Daly City to Menlo Park, from coastal beaches to San Francisco Bay, assigned in teams to specific routes to walk or drive.

The goal was simple but challenging: locate, record and count people who often don't want to be seen, whether sleeping outdoors or in a vehicle.

Takalo met with Fernando Gomez of the County's Human Services Agency, which organizes the count. They reviewed their route and pulled onto Kelly Avenue, heading to neighborhoods north of downtown Half Moon Bay, then up and along Frenchman's Creek.

Colleen Granahan, a longtime El Granada resident and manager of the Coastside Farmers Market, said participating felt personal.

"Within the unhoused community, there are people that I grew up with here. They are not just strangers. They are people from our community," Granahan said. "I feel it's important to make sure everyone is accounted for."

She would soon be heading toward the Purisima area south of downtown Half Moon Bay, a heavily wooded region. "I feel like we're all human," she said.

The work felt close to home for Granahan and many other volunteers. A statewide study by the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative has found that most people experiencing homelessness in Californiawere living in the same county where they last had housing.

Over the hill in San Bruno, Karen Moore climbed a steep pathway between the elevated eastbound and westbound lanes of Interstate 380. At the crest, she found an encampment tucked hard against a cold freeway wall. Morning dew soaked through her shoes. A few minutes earlier, Moore had recorded finding an individual sleeping on the concrete beneath a Caltrain overpass.

What does this look like to her?

"I see struggle."

Moore has experienced homelessness herself: once while fleeing domestic violence and again after a bad divorce. She now works for LifeMoves, a nonprofit that provides shelter and supportive services, and volunteered for the count.

"I go out here and smile, try to put a smile on somebody else's face," she said. "I try to let them know that, 'Hey, you're not alone. We can do this together.'"

She paused. "We're one paycheck away from being where they're at, and they're one paycheck away from being where we're at," she said. "That's all that separates us."

A little further along, Jennifer Goins pulled back a section of chain-link fence where a narrow trail cut through grass and brush. It was her second time volunteering for the One Day Count.

Goins is also formerly homeless and works for LifeMoves. "I was very established before I became homeless," she said. "I owned my own business. I had houses. Cars. I was a mother of two, and some things happened in my life, and at 42, 43 years old, I found myself with nothing and out on the street."

The count, she said, requires learning how to look - not just for people, but for signs of where people might be staying.

"If you open your eyes, you're going to find it," Goins said. "It's everywhere."

For some, the count offered a new perspective.

"This was my first time doing the count, and I just wanted to see for myself what was happening in my neighborhood," Daly City resident Yang Gao said following the count. "It was really eye-opening and honestly very meaningful.

"I was encouraged to see that conditions have improved over the years, but it also reminded me why it's important for community members to stay involved. Being out here helps you better understand the issue, and I'd encourage others to volunteer and take part."

Paul Laustsen
Human Services Agency
[email protected]
650-465-9977 (text preferred)