2012 Summer Enhanced PIT CountRevised 06/21/12

2012 Summer PIT Count

http://wvendhomelessness.org/

Who are we?

WVCEH – WV Coalition to End HomelessnessCoC – Continuum of CareBoS – Balance of StateHUD – Department of Housing and Urban Development

2012 Summer PIT Count

http://wvendhomelessness.org/

Balance of State Continuum of Care

2012 Summer PIT Count

http://wvendhomelessness.org/

What is the PIT?

• One-night count of all sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons across the country that occurs in the last 10 days of January every year.

• Sheltered – anyone residing in an emergency or transitional shelter or receiving HPRP funds for homeless assistance.

• Unsheltered – anyone residing in a place not meant for human habitation• Tent, campground, woods, street• Abandoned building• Home without utilities or running water• Being evicted within 7 days and has not secured

housing nor resources to secure housing

2012 Summer PIT Count

http://wvendhomelessness.org/

Why do we do the PIT?

• HUD uses data from the PIT Count to decide how much money is allocated to homeless assistance programs.

• Your community can use the data for planning purposes, grant applications and program design.

• WVCEH/Balance of State CoC uses PIT Data to target CoC funding for Supportive Housing Programs through HUD, advocacy to state and federal policy makers, and providing information for State-wide planning of services that may also serve the homeless.

2012 Summer PIT Count

http://wvendhomelessness.org/

Who should participate in the Count?

• Everyone who serves or meets persons who may be unstably housed or homeless

• FRNs, Police/Sherriff Departments, Community Action Agencies, DHHR, Faith-based Community, food pantries, Emergency Rooms, State Forest and National Forest personnel,

2012 Summer PIT Count

http://wvendhomelessness.org/

Why did we choose to do a Summer Count?

• Historically little to no data collection across rural areas.

• There are many services in rural areas that we do not know about and do not know about the count and it’s purposes

• 31% participation across the CoC in the 2012 January Count.

• We made assumptions on the number of homeless in 2012 in 30 of our 44 counties in the Balance of State

2012 Summer PIT Count

http://wvendhomelessness.org/

Example of an “Assumption”

• No data received from Preston County, which has a population of 33520, is rural but close to a larger metropolitan area

• Data received from Mercer County, which has a higher population (62264), but did a good count in their more rural areas which are close to the metropolitan area of Bluefield.

Population of non-reporting county Variance in Number reported homeless NUMBER TO REPORT IN

population in reporting county NON-REPORTING COUNTYPopulation of similar reporting county

Does this seem reliable? Do you want to be provided data that has been derived this way to present to your funders?

2012 Summer PIT Count

http://wvendhomelessness.org/

Goals of the Summer Count:

1) to strengthen relationships with community stakeholders around the issue of homelessness

2) to test the quality of the data generated by expanding the stakeholders who participate in the Point In Time study

3) to expand data collection opportunities to those stakeholders who serve homeless people who are not captured by traditional data collection methods

2012 Summer PIT Count

http://wvendhomelessness.org/

Methodology of the Summer Count

The study team will target 24 West Virginia counties within the Continuum of Care (CoC) service area for data collection. These counties represent 54% of the total counties serviced within the CoC (covering 44 WV counties). Additionally, counties selected for inclusion match the rural/urban demographic of the Continuum’s service area. The breakdown includes 7 counties that are urban in nature. Urban is defined as populations of 15,000 or greater. It also includes 7 counties that are identified as extremely rural. Extremely rural is defined as populations less than 9,000. The remaining 10 counties have populations between 9,000 and 14,000 people. This represents a distribution of 29% urban counties and 71% rural counties, which is similar to the distribution of all 44 counties in the catchment area.

2012 Summer PIT Count

http://wvendhomelessness.org/

The Summer Survey

• Data collection over 1 1/2 week time frame, not just 24 hours

• Simple survey – 5 questions• Capturing those who are precariously, or

unstably, housed

• Summer PIT Count Survey Form

2012 Summer PIT Count

http://wvendhomelessness.org/

What we need

• Communication about the Summer Count with stakeholders who encounter the homeless

• Facilitation and getting the survey out and collected during and after the data collection period

What we can provide• Possible financial assistance for your

community to plan a Summer PIT Outreach event (soup/sandwich event, community resource fair, gas vouchers for volunteers to search for unsheltered, etc.)

• Data to your community after the count

2012 Summer PIT Count

http://wvendhomelessness.org/

Questions?

2012 Summer PIT Count

http://wvendhomelessness.org/

Amanda SissonHMIS Data Coordinator/TrainerAdministrative Officeramandasisson@wvceh.org

WV Balance of State Continuum of Care/WVCEH160 John StreetWeston, WV 26452304-269-8600