Officials in Clallam and Jefferson counties are continuing to collect data from the annual Point in Time count after the effort faced rainy weather in both areas.
The Point in Time (PIT) count is a nationwide tally held last Thursday of anyone living in a tent, car, school bus, sidewalk or any other place not meant for habitation.
People at risk of homelessness such as those couch surfing or doubled up and living with others also are counted.
Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP) organized the count and volunteers for Jefferson County while Serenity House of Clallam County oversaw Clallam’s count.
Neither county has a complete count yet because rural communities have until the end of the month to reach out to count and gather the information on the homeless population. However, Thursday was the main push and all counts must refer to where that person slept on the night before, said Allison Arthur, OlyCAP senior housing manager and PIT coordinator, and Lacey Fry, Serenity House executive assistant and lead PIT organizer.
The weather posed a slight problem for the teams, with organizers worried that people stayed hunkered down during the rain and weren’t counted. The West End was a particularly difficult area to get counts, Fry said.
“I think it’s important to remember that this is a point in time number,” Arthur said. “There are people who are not going to be counted.
“We want to reach as many people as we can. It’s not going to capture everyone.”
OlyCAP had 18 volunteers help with a total of 22 people participating in the count Thursday, including housing department staff, Arthur said.
Serenity House had 34 volunteers help with a total of 48 people participating in the count Thursday throughout Clallam County, including Serenity House staff.
The PIT count also allows the service providers to hear from the community on what other services or programs might be needed but aren’t currently available, said Arthur.
Both organizations had different shelters and stations set up serving food and handing out items such as blankets, socks, clothes and handwarmers, depending on the location and organization, Fry and Arthur said.
One man who stopped by an OlyCAP station told Arthur “It’s like Christmas again.”
Having the sites with needed items helped bring people out from where they live and made it easier for them to be counted, organizers said.
“It’s hard to have people come out for the county’s sake,” Fry said.
For next year’s PIT count, both organizations are planning on leveraging the connections with community partners that they worked with this year and trying to form new ones to reach as many people as possible.
“I think reaching out to people is where we need to go for the future,” Arthur said.
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5, or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.
