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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2018
Homeless count is up, but Tiny Micro-Chip Now
declines seen in key cities In The Ear: Available!
Strategies could
be working
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
Associated Press
A federal report released
Monday provides a possible
glimmer of hope for the home-
less crisis that has gripped
many cities up and down the
West Coast.
The number of people liv-
ing on the streets in Los Ange-
les and San Diego, two epi-
centers of the homelessness
crisis, fell this year, suggesting
those cities’ efforts to combat
the problem could be starting
to pay off.
In Los Angeles, the count
fell by 3 percent after a sharp
increase the year before. Peter
Lynn, executive director of the
Los Angeles Homeless Ser-
vices Authority, said that can
be credited to results of six
months of stepped-up home-
less services after Los Ange-
les County voters raised taxes
to help in 2017.
Later that year, Los Ange-
les city voters approved a
bond issue to provide more
affordable housing — a fac-
tor Lynn said will start show-
ing up in future counts.
“We’re also dealing with
the countervailing pressure
of housing markets that are
pretty unforgiving,” he said.
Cities in California, Ore-
gon and Washington state
have driven an overall spike in
the number of homeless peo-
ple nationwide in recent years.
This year’s count continued
that trend, showing 552,800
people without homes across
the country, up by about 2,000
from 2017, according to the
U.S. Department of Hous-
ing and Urban Development’s
point-in-time tally. It was the
second consecutive increase
after seven straight years of
declines.
The number of home-
less referred to as unshel-
tered — those living in the
streets, encampments or other
open places — was more than
194,000 nationwide. That also
was up from last year.
More than 37,000 of the
unsheltered were in the Los
Angeles area this year, down 2
percent from 2017.
San Diego, California’s
second most populous city,
also saw a decline in both total
homelessness and those on the
streets. After a hepatitis A out-
break spread among the home-
less population and killed
20 people in 2017, the city
turned to industrial-sized tents
to house hundreds of people.
As the tents went up, offi cials
also cited people camping on
downtown streets. Encamp-
ments downtown cleared out
quickly, but the number along
the San Diego River doubled.
The city is consider-
ing a ballot measure to raise
money for affordable housing
in 2020.
Nationwide, the overall
increase this year was driven
by a 2 percent rise in the
unsheltered homeless popu-
lation — those living in vehi-
cles, tents and on the streets
— along with 4,000 people in
emergency shelters after hur-
ricanes, wildfi res and other
disasters, according to HUD.
The numbers of homeless vet-
erans and families continued
their long-term declines.
At a time when rents are
rising faster than wages —
especially for lower-income
people — an essentially stag-
nant count is a not a bad sign,
said Steve Berg, vice presi-
dent for programs and policy
at the National Alliance to End
Homelessness.
“Given what’s going on
with rental housing, it’s not
exactly good news. But it
means communities are push-
ing back against the head-
winds,” said Berg, who like
other advocates urges caution
about reading too much into
one-year trends in the home-
less count.
The homelessness data pic-
ture is incomplete because
several West Coast areas with
large populations, including
San Francisco, Portland and
California’s Orange County,
did not conduct new counts of
unsheltered homeless popula-
tions this year. Those places
will do fresh surveys in early
2019.
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Sea turtles die after rescue on Oregon Coast
And a FREE* Turkey on US!
By KALE WILLIAMS
The Oregonian
A pair of endangered sea
turtles, rescued in separate
incidents after being stranded
on the coast last week, died
after attempts to rehabili-
tate the injured animals were
unsuccessful.
The fi rst turtle, an olive
ridley, was discovered by
Oregon state trooper Josh
Mullins after he responded
to a call from a resident who
found the animal on Horsfall
Beach, north of Coos Bay.
The animal had been spot-
ted earlier and looked to
be free of injury, but search
crews were unable to fi nd it
before high tide. Experts from
the Oregon Coast Aquarium
believe the animal may have
been washed out to sea and
sustained further injuries.
When Mullins found the
ailing creature, it had cracks
in its shell and was lethar-
gic. By the time the turtle
was brought to the aquarium
the next day for treatment,
its body temperature was
roughly 30 degrees colder
than normal.
The female turtle was
named “Donatello,” after
a character in the “Teen-
age Mutant Ninja Turtles”
comics, when social media
users saw it dressed in purple
bandages.
On Saturday, a couple
walking along the beach in
Waldport spotted the second
turtle, also a female olive rid-
ley, and called the aquarium.
Oregon State Police
A sea turtle was stranded on the Oregon Coast.
The couple enlisted the help
of state parks ranger Doug
Sestrich to carry the animal to
safety before it, too, could be
brought to the aquarium for
rehabilitation.
Winter months can often
prove perilous for sea turtles
off the coast of the Pacifi c
Northwest. Sometimes blown
off course by strong storms,
the creatures can end up in
water much too cold for them
and strandings are not uncom-
mon along Oregon beaches.
Initially, experts at the
facility were hopeful but
guarded about both sea tur-
tles’ conditions. Donatello
was responsive to her han-
dlers and blood work showed
no signs of infection. Subse-
quent analysis showed that
her kidneys were severely
compromised. The sec-
ond turtle was suffering
from cold-stun, said Evonne
Mochon-Collura,
Oregon
Coast Aquarium c urator of
fi sh and i nvertebrates.
“While she appeared
physically intact, cold-stun-
ning itself takes its toll on
the turtle’s internal organs,”
Mochon-Collura said in a
statement. “As always with
animals with sustained inju-
ries, they have a lot of chal-
lenges through recovery. We
submitted X-rays and blood
samples for further analy-
sis to determine her internal
condition.”
Both animals died Sunday,
the aquarium reported.
The odds of rehabilitat-
ing stranded sea turtles are
low, but the aquarium has
had success in the past, spe-
cifi cally with two turtles
named “Lightning” and “Sol-
stice,” both found on Ore-
gon beaches and tended to
at the aquarium. After being
released in 2017, their move-
ments were tracked in known
breeding grounds off the
coast of Mexico this spring.
Mention this ad for
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They Lived by the Whistle
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This beautiful, 185 page hard cover, color book with over 200
historical photographs is available at the Heritage Museum, 1618
Exchange Street in Astoria.
While here, visit our newest permanent gallery entitled, “The
Bounty of Clatsop County” and learn more about our region’s
natural resources.
If you can’t make it to the museum store, just contact us at:
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and we will ship your copy directly to you.
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Tillamook, OR 97141
(503) 836-7926
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