BEND, OR -- The annual Point in Time homeless count is underway in Central Oregon, through January 31. Homeless Leadership Coalition Chair Eliza Wilson says the goal is to gather data on those experiencing homelessness; specifically about where they slept Tuesday night, "When we do have someone who’s willing to answer the questions, we can ask them the series of questions about the night of the 24th. So, it is just a snapshot of that evening - how many people were living unsheltered."
Last year's PIT count found nearly 1,300 unhoused Central Oregonians; a 17% increase over 2021. Wilson expects the 2023 number to be even larger, partly due to more resources helping to collect data. But, like in past years, she still anticipates an undercount, "We do have a lot of great service providers that are really volunteering their time to do this. But we don’t ever get everybody." Wilson adds, "Some people just are not able, at that point, to complete a survey with us. Maybe that’s because we’re not aware some people are experiencing homelessness."
Among those gathering demographic information is the Deschutes County Health Services Homeless Outreach Team. Supervisor Colleen Thomas tells KBND News her team went from two to a team of eight this year. "We now have a case manager and a peer support specialist assigned to each city within the county. And the purpose of that is that we can meet folks where they’re at, at their encampments." She hopes the increase in resources will help provide a more accurate count, "We have been able to identify more folks in the community, build relationships and so that helps us during this week, for Point in Time count, to collect more data because we know where people are at and we have more resources to meet the need."
The data is required by the federal government to access funds through the office of Housing and Urban Development. Results are expected to be publicly released in late spring.
Image: Volunteers gather demographic data from those experiencing homelessness in this 2017 photo.
