Guilford County’s 2013 homeless count will be held on Jan. 30th

From Partners Ending Homelessness, re: 2013 homeless count:

“Count Me In”
Guilford County’s Annual Point in Time Count

On Wednesday, January 30th from 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM Partners Ending Homelessness will conduct Guilford County’s Annual Point in Time Count. The information collected provides a reliable snapshot of unduplicated sheltered and unsheltered individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

Guilford County, NC- On Wednesday, January 30th from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Guilford County’s Annual Point in Time Count will be conducted by Partners Ending Homelessness. Point in Time Counts are conducted annually across the nation and are designed to collect data on the number of individuals and families experiencing homelessness on any given night. The information collected provides a reliable snapshot of unduplicated sheltered and unsheltered individuals and families experiencing homelessness. The information collected through the Point in Time Count is used to help measure Guilford County’s progress towards ending homelessness.

Homelessness is defined by the US Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) as a person sleeping in a place not meant for human habitation, sleeping in emergency shelters, or living in transitional housing. Chronic homelessness is defined as an individual with a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more, or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years. In 2007, there were over 1,200 individuals experiencing homelessness and over 200 individuals experiencing chronic homelessness on any given night in our community. Last year’s Point in Time Count revealed 1,005 people experiencing homelessness in Guilford County, 81 of whom were experiencing chronic homelessness. Due to uncertain economic conditions, it is essential that we conduct the count as accurately as possible in order to help our community plan for services and provide a true snapshot of homelessness in Guilford County.

Information and data from this year’s count will be released to the public on Wednesday, February 27th at the Point In Time Count press conference. For more information regarding the Point in Time Count and press conference, please contact Sara Patterson at sara@partnersendinghomelessness.org or 336-553-2715.

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About Partners Ending Homelessness
Partners Ending Homelessness serves as the lead agency for Guilford County’s federally designated Continuum of Care. Partners Ending Homelessness encourages public understanding of the causes and conditions of homelessness while leading a strong, stable system of care for individuals and families to end homelessness in Guilford County. For more information, please visit www.PartnersEndingHomelessness.org. Partners Ending Homelessness can be contacted at 336.553.2715 or by email at Info@partnersendinghomelessness.org.

Tweets & Docs from Partners Ending Homelessness 2nd Annual Community Stakeholders Meeting

Download the Documents:
>> Annual Meeting Data (.pptx)
>> PEH Executive Summary (.doc)

>> Visit Partners Ending Homelessness on the web

2,634 Guilford County Schools’ students are homeless

From Fox8:

The number of homeless students in Guilford County Schools is steadily rising, and now 2,634 students are considered homeless. That number is up from 2,010 homeless students two years ago and 1,717 homeless students three years ago…”

Guilford County Schools reported just 839 homeless students during the annual Point In Time Count of the Homeless in January 2006.

Not all homeless families report their homelessness to the school system; reported student homeless numbers do not include infants, preschoolers, older siblings, parents or other members of the students’ families; and not all homeless children and youth attend school.

Local homeless count numbers officially released: “Homelessness on rise”

Totals for the 2010 Guilford County homeless count (part of the annual, nationwide HUD count) were reported to the state and available on the web as of March 12th, as reported here at ChosenFast.com. Those numbers were officially released to the media today:

howmanyOn any given night, 1,064 people find themselves without permanent shelter in Guilford County, new data shows.

The annual “point-in-time” count of the homeless Jan. 27 found that at least that many people were living on the street, in shelters or in transitional housing, according to a report released today by Partners Ending Homelessness.

The annual count is a snapshot of homelessness in the county and officials caution it is not a complete picture of the situation. People often decline to take the voluntary survey and others may not be found during the 24-hour period that it takes place.

In 2009, the point-in-time count found 1,052 people experiencing homelessness in Guilford County.

This year’s count of the homeless also showed:

  • a 55 percent increase in the number of military veterans
  • a 31 percent increase in the number of domestic violence victims; and
  • an 8 percent increase in the number of children

– from ‘Snapshot’ survey shows homelessness on rise : News-Record.com

My experience with our StreetWatch team, as well as observations at shelter and meal locations, and conversations with police officers and homeless people, tell me that homelessness is increasing in our city and county, as it is across the nation. Counting homeless people is a notoriously difficult, and ultimately impossible, task. So I tend to go by trends, based on who we see and who we serve.

Last week, I spoke with Jehan Benton-Clark, director of Partners Ending Homelessness (PEH), about this year’s homeless count totals. We discussed the inherent limitations of a one-day homeless count, and other available data from local homeless service providers which presents a broader picture of the increasing homeless population in our area. I anticipate a more detailed public report from PEH.

Breaking down the homeless count, part 1

According to the 2009 point in time count of the homeless in Guilford County, conducted by the Homeless Prevention Coalition (HPCGC) on January 28th, there were 130 unsheltered people in the county, only 26 of whom are chronically homeless. Keep in mind that those numbers include both Greensboro and High Point.  I believe that the team I was with counted 10 chronically homeless people on the night of the count. What are the odds that all the other teams combined only found 16 more chronically homeless people out of the remaining 120? Hmmm…

According to the 2009 count, there were 473 homeless people in emergency shelters, only 86 of whom are chronically homeless. Just for fun, I might make a list of the sheltered homeless people that I know who are chronically homeless. Who wants to bet that I could come up with more than 86, just in Greensboro?

But wait, it gets better. According to the 2007 count, there were 502 homeless people in emergency shelters. This was before we began the community shelter program. The WE! winter shelters in Greensboro just opened in December 2008 and added 100 emergency shelter beds. And yet, we only had 473 people in shelter this winter, including all of the county’s homeless shelters and their winter overflow beds, and the new winter emergency program. Anyone see a discrepancy? So technically, the number of sheltered homeless people went down this year? Um, what?