Homeless providers and community volunteers will spread out across both Clallam and Jefferson counties later this month to count the number of unsheltered people living on the streets, in parks and other places.
The Point in Time Count of Homeless is to be conducted on only one day in Clallam County — Thursday, Jan. 27 — while the census will be taken over a period of one week in Jefferson County.
Data from the count, which is overseen by the state Department of Commerce for the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, is used both in determining funding and to help agencies identify unsheltered homeless people and help link them to resources and housing.
In 2010, organizers in both Clallam and Jefferson counties said they saw an increase in the number of newly homeless, and homeless families, a phenomenon they attributed to the economy.
A meeting to prepare for the count is planned Wednesday.
The Shelter Providers Network meeting will be at 9 a.m. at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 301 Lopez St., in Port Angeles.
Surveys, assignments and volunteer assistance will be coordinated.
Serenity House of Clallam County has been the designated lead agency for the count since 2003.
“What we have learned since 2003 has been tremendously important in designing programs that meet real needs,” said Kathy Wahto, executive director of Serenity House.
“It has helped Clallam compete for resources to open new projects and quality permanent housing choices for homeless people,” Wahto said.
The countywide effort has engaged as many as 100 agency and community volunteers in past years.
In the west end of the county, West End Outreach has coordinated efforts in Forks, Clallam Bay, LaPush and Neah Bay.
Wahto said that the West End count has helped develop new housing resources for veterans, people suffering from mental illness and increased housing assistance for families with children in that part of the county.
The 2010 count identified and surveyed 598 people, Serenity House said in a prepared statement.
Of those, 278 were in sheltering programs, 74 people were living in cars, abandoned homes, parks or otherwise unsheltered and 246 people were surveyed who were at high risk of homeless and temporarily couch-surfing.
Most of the couch surfers — 61 percent — said they were homeless for less than 30 days or less or were in imminent danger of becoming homeless, a threefold increase from 2009, Serenity House reported then.
The number of homeless count has dropped over the past four years, Serenity House said.
The homeless count in 2006 was 1,055. In that year, 177 people were surveyed who were on the street, living in cars, tents, campgrounds or abandoned buildings, the organization said.
Plans also will be made at the Wednesday meeting for the second annual one-stop service and information exposition for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
The event is set for March 17 at the Vern Burton Community Center in Port Angeles.
For more information, phone Serenity House at 360-452-7224 or serenity@olypen.com.
Jefferson County
Organizers for the Jefferson County count are expected to attend training today, and distribute questionnaires to volunteers on Thursday, collecting the finished forms on the following Thursday, according to information from Tim Hockett, Olympic Community Action Programs executive director.
The count is expected to be compiled in the first week of February.
The state Department of Commerce gives rural counties like Jefferson County extra time to complete the count because of the distances that must be covered, OlyCap said.
The number of homeless people counted in Jefferson County dropped from 203 in 2009 to 187 in 2010 — a decline attributed at least partly to the Rental Assistance Accessing Community Housing program, that puts homeless people into permanent housing and keeps them linked with services.
The drop in the number was after a spike documented in 2008, when 316 homeless were counted in Jefferson County, up from 250 in 2007.
Before that, the number had slowly risen, with 187 counted in 2006 and 170 in 2005.
Those who want to volunteer, can phone Janet Anderson in the Port Townsend OlyCap office at 360-385-2571, ext. 6315.
