VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Dan Treglia, MPP The Homeless Evidence and Research Synthesis (HERS) Roundtable Series Enumeration of Homelessness July 14, 2015 PIT Counts: Estimating the Unsheltered Homeless Population

VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Parameters of PIT Count At least once every other year Conducted during the last 10 days of January Must account for ALL homeless people in CoC – Living in a place not designed or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation: unsheltered homeless persons – Living in emergency shelters and transitional housing projects: sheltered homeless persons

VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Diversity of Locations 469 sq. miles 8.5 million people 27,857.9 people per sq. mile 147,164 sq. miles 1 million people 6.86 people per sq. mile

VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs The Basics of an Estimate Street-Based CountService-Based Count

VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Street Count Methods – Entirety of Geographic Area Boston – Known “hotspots” Philadelphia – Sample with extrapolation New York City

VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Street Count Methods – Entirety of Geographic Area Boston – Known “hotspots” Philadelphia – Sample with extrapolation New York City 89 mi mi mi 2

VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Simple vs. Stratified Sampling Divide CoC into small areas – Census tract or block group Simple Random Sample =

VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Simple vs. Stratified Sampling Divide CoC into small areas – Census tract or block group Stratified Random Sample =

VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Service-Based Counts Many people who do not use shelter access other services and public facilities Ideal when jurisdictions are large & have challenging topography

VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Service-Based Counts Must ask detailed questions about where an individual slept on Count Night Can take place for up to 7-days after Count Night Must unduplicate across multiple services and nights

VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Strengths & Weaknesses Street-Count Pros: – Little chance of double counting – Good understanding of covered areas – No recall problems Cons: – Miss “invisible homeless” – May miss people who do not appear homeless – Can be affected by weather – Difficult in large geographies Service-Based Enumeration Pros: – Good for large and challenging areas – Reach “invisible homeless” – Good for targeting hard-to- reach populations (e.g. youth) Cons: – Not all homeless people access services – May double count – Subject to recall errors

VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Improving Methodological Fidelity: Plant-Capture

VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Improving Coverage Use sampling to cover more space in a systematic way Use service-based enumerations to supplement street counts – Counts must be coordinated & unduplicated

VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Questions?