HOW TO MAKE HOMELESS POINT-IN-TIME (PIT) COUNT MORE SUCCESSFUL The Second Annual Nebraska-Western Iowa Symposium on Homelessness Homeless in the Heartland Counting Everyone - Making Everyone Count

Presentation Roadmap  Homeless Point in Time Count 101  2013 PIT Count Summary  Region V, 5 year PIT data  MACCH - Youth PIT Count  Rural PIT Challenges and Best Practices  Regional Experiences  Small group work – Designing a Better PIT  Small group ideas  Product: Plan for 2014 BOS Point in Time Count

The Homeless Point in Time Count  The Point-in-Time (PIT) count is a count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons on a single night in January. Each count is planned, coordinated, and carried out locally.  PIT count provides the homeless assistance community with data needed to understand the number and characteristics of persons who are homeless.  HUD requires all of Continuums of Care (CoCs) to conduct a PIT count and report the data as part of their annual competitive CoC application.

The Homeless Point in Time Count  One ‘night’ in the last 10 days of January  Unduplicated count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless  PIT and Housing Inventory (HIC) are integrally related  Only sheltered persons counted at a provider listed on the HIC maybe included in PIT count

Who is included in PIT Count – 2013 Persons included in PIT Count  Sheltered Persons “living in a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangement (including congregate shelters, transitional housing, and hotels and motels paid for by charitable organizations or by federal, state, or local government programs for low-individual)  Unsheltered Persons Persons NOT included in PIT Count  Persons residing in permanent supportive housing programs, including persons housed using Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers.  Persons in any location not listed on the HIC (e.g., staying in programs with beds/units not dedicated for persons who are homeless).  Persons temporarily staying with family or friends (i.e., “doubled-up” or “couch surfing”).  Persons residing in their own unit (i.e., permanent housing) with assistance from a RRH provider program  Persons in Rapid Re-housing

PIT Count Methods Sheltered  HMIS Providers  Sheltered Population  Service Count Population  Non-HMIS Providers  Paper PIT Count Form *  Domestic Violence Shelters  Aggregate forms of persons sheltered on night of PIT count Personal identifying information (PII) for Non-HMIS providers paper forms are critical for de- duplication efforts. Name, DOB, Gender, Race

PIT Count Methods Unsheltered  Public Place Counts  Known Locations  Contact counts  Law Enforcement  Schools  Churches  Service based count  Persons presenting for services Personal Identifying information for unsheltered count are critical for de- duplication efforts. Name, DOB, Gender, Race  Use of Unsheltered PIT Count Form

BOS – 3 year PIT Sheltered Count Trends 2013 PIT 748 persons in 430 households 58 Chronic Ind. 20 Chronic Fam. 279 children/youth 21 unaccompanied

Regional - January 2013 PIT Count The distribution of homeless persons in the BOS by housing type across regions was widely variable. Identified unsheltered persons were nearly all in Region 2.

Nebraska - January 2013 PIT Count 3,190 homeless persons counted Estimates are that approximately 10% of U.S. homeless population live in rural areas of the country (NAEH, 2009). 23% of Homeless Persons counted on 2013 Point in Time Count were in the Nebraska Balance of State Continuum of Care

Northeast Nebraska PIT Count

Northeast Nebraska Subpopulation data

Youth and Young Adult PIT Count  Omaha Metro Area Continuum conducts Youth Specific PIT that counts unaccompanied youth (24 & <) who are homeless or unstably housed.  Not all of these youth counted are included in PIT Count for HUD but maybe submitted as additional information.

Youth and Young Adult PIT Count  310 Youth counted in 2013  18% were 18 years of age or younger  17% of youth were parents and 83% of those with children had custody  14% with severe mental illness  8% with chronic substance abuse

MACCH – Youth & Young Adult PIT Count

Rural CoC Point in Time Counts  Rural CoCs are challenged in having to count unsheltered individuals in extensive, sometimes unknown or hard to reach locations with minimal resources.  What are solutions in overcoming these challenges?  Rural CoCs are challenged in having to count unsheltered individuals in extensive, sometimes unknown or hard to reach locations with minimal resources.  What are solutions in overcoming these challenges?

Rural Point in Time Count  Critical to involve the wider community on broad level early and often.  Partner with Law Enforcement as critical to successful PIT unsheltered count.  Identify ‘known locations’ well prior and strategically plan ‘street’ count efforts with specific providers / agencies

Rural Point in Time Count  Better utilize local schools and coordinate with homeless liaisons if present  Improve coordination with NDE homeless liaison  Consider regional Project Homeless Connect event during PIT Count  Consider expanding the unsheltered count time period over a greater period of time to cover more areas  Biennial PIT Count

BOS Point in Time - Regional Experience Lessons learned from experience and challenges yet to overcome!

Building a Better PIT Count Unsheltered Focus  In your small groups, create a list of strategies that would help enhance the point in time count in your region. Focus on unsheltered count and non-HMIS provider methods Remember enough PII must be obtained to de-duplicate with other data collection methods Address methods of outreach and greater community involvement  How can the PIT Count information be used in your region?