As 90 volunteers spread out through Lake County to learn how many people were spending the night outside rather than indoors, they recorded nearly triple the number of homeless individuals than there were in 2023 as part of the annual Point-in-Time Count.
Though the increase was significant, Brenda O’Connell, Lake County’s community development administrator who oversees the count or census, said it does not necessarily mean the number of homeless individuals in Lake County has spiked that much.
O’Connell said in an email the unseasonably warm weather was a possible factor, with more people choosing to remain outside. Those who sleep in shelters or transitional housing are also considered homeless when a total count is made.
“It is concerning to us that we saw a significant increase this year,” O’Connell said. “The count is just one of many ways (we) measure the homeless population. It is by no means the end all, be all way of determining an approximate number of homeless.”
Volunteers and county employees sought and quizzed people spending the night outside late Wednesday night into the wee hours of Thursday morning throughout Lake County, adding a crucial element to the annual census of the homeless.
Those fanning out to all areas of the county, from Barrington to Winthrop Harbor and from Highland Park to Fox Lake, found 82 people spending the night outside. O’Connell said last year there were 30, and the year before 15.
Before the final count of the county’s homeless is known in several months, O’Connell said surveys of those who shelter domestic violence victims, as well as people who sleep in shelters like PADS of Lake County, will be taken. The final count was 467 last year.
Education is another reason for the homeless census. O’Connell said when volunteers find people spending the night outside, they ask basic questions like the individual’s age or the number of children to help learn why they are homeless.
One of the volunteers was Waukegan Ald. Lynn Florian, 8th Ward. She said she regularly volunteers for the census. She and her partners located a mother and her adult son living in their car.
Florian said they declined any help, including a bag prepared for all individuals found containing personal hygiene items such as a toothbrush, toothpaste and items for warmth like a Mylar blanket, gloves and socks.
“They’ve been living in their vehicle for over two years,” Florian said. “I don’t know how they’ve been doing it. They refused to let us help them. They even refused to take the bag we tried to give them.”
While some of the tens of thousands of migrants who were put on buses and sent to the Chicago area from Texas have found their way to Lake County, O’Connell said determining the country of origin of the homeless people found was not part of the mission of the Point-in-Time Count.
“The count is separate than the asylum-seeker issue because it is strictly about unsheltered individuals, regardless of immigration status,” she said. “Through the count, we have no way of determining if any of the individuals are asylum-seekers.”
Lake County Board member Mary Ross Cunningham, D-Waukegan, said she has volunteered to help since the inception of the census 21 years ago. Unlike the mother and son Florian encountered, Cunningham said a woman they found took aid.
“We got her to a shelter,” Cunningham said. “The van came and picked her up. We found three people who refused any help. My heart goes out to these people. No one should have a reason to be homeless.”
Some of the reasons O’Connell said people are homeless include job loss, disability, mental health struggles, domestic violence or the inability to find affordable housing.
