Counting Those Who Are Homeless

Technology and T-shirts improve process

by Sheryl S. Jackson Florida League of Cities

Every January, volunteers hit the streets to conduct the national, one-day annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness provides data used by HUD and local communities to set policy decisions and funding levels for relevant programs and measure progress toward the goal of eliminating homelessness.

The responsibility for coordinating the annual count lies with local Continuum of Care (CoC) organizations working with local governments and community-based agencies offering services to the homeless population. Tools and resources for coordinating and conducting the count have increased in number and availability throughout the years.

ORLANDO VOLUNTEERS USE MOBILE APP

One of the most visible changes has been the method volunteers use to collect data, said Lisa Portelli, Senior Advisor to Mayor on Homelessness and Social Services, City of Orlando.

“We’ve moved from completing the survey with pen and paper to using an app that can be downloaded to the volunteer’s phone,” she said. “Not only is this easier for the volunteer to manage, but the geolocation function of the app also provides exact locations that help the CoC report data by specific communities.” More detailed information helps community organizations and federal, state and local governments better evaluate and enhance strategies to address homelessness, she added.

The Hyperion app used by Orlando volunteers contains the survey script to gather information on the person being interviewed. Demographic information is collected to build a picture of the homeless population in the area. The information that is collected includes age, gender and race as well as where the person is sleeping that night, if it’s the first time being homeless, medical or addiction concerns and veteran status.

Orlando PIT volunteers visited a community meal program to locate the unsheltered for the survey.

Photo courtesy of City of Orlando

Portelli and other city representatives Orlando PIT volunteers visited a community meal program to locate the unsheltered for the survey. serve on the CoC committee coordinating the count. “The survey form is part of the mobile app, and we tweak the questions for each year as we plan the count,” she said. Volunteers input survey information on their phones, and data is transmitted to the CoC’s data analytics platform as surveys are completed.

Recruitment of city staff to survey unsheltered people within the City limits is led by department heads and usually focuses on employees who work in departments such as Housing and Community Development, Neighborhood and Community Relations and the Mayor’s office. “Surveying the homeless population is tough, but all of our employees who participate find it educational and rewarding,” Portelli said.

JACKSONVILLE EMPLOYEES PARTICIPATE IN COUNT

“All of our employees can volunteer as surveyors for the PIT count as part of their seven hours of volunteer time for which they are paid or as unpaid time,” said Dawn Lockhart, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Office of Mayor, for the City of Jacksonville. “We did use a mobile app in 2021, but COVID-19 affected our recruitment of volunteers – staff and community,” she said. “Because HUD allows cities that meet specific requirements to skip the count of unsheltered for a year, we did not count homeless persons outside our shelters in 2022.”

Jacksonville has a strong commitment to reducing homelessness through an intentional strategy that brings government, business and community leaders together to address homelessness, said Lockhart. “We’ve seen a 35% decrease in homelessness since 2015. “Our efforts have worked because we have everyone at the table to discuss strategy, identify opportunities and share information.”

This strong coordination among all partners is also beneficial for planning the PIT count in Jacksonville, said Lockhart. “While the majority of our homeless population is in the core downtown area, we are the largest city by area in the contiguous United States and have 876 square miles to cover,” she said. “This makes deploying volunteers more complicated, but we do have known areas of encampments based on the work of our mobile social and medical services programs.”

Plans for the 2023 count include continued use of a mobile app, Lockhart said. Jacksonville volunteers use the Counting Us mobile app. “Benefits of the technology include its contactless nature – no pen, no paper, no signature required – which makes volunteers feel safer and more efficient,” she said. Data is automatically uploaded, which streamlines the recording and analyzing of data, and the use of a digital tool removes the human error from the process since paper forms don’t have to be re-entered, she added.

LARGO SERVES AS PIT DEPLOYMENT SITE

The City of Largo has evolved in its participation in the annual PIT count over the years, said Arrow M. Woodard, Housing Manager, Housing Division. City employees have volunteered for the count for many years but had to travel to deployment sites north or south of the City for assignments and training.

The team at Largo deployment site prepares to head out to survey.

Photo courtesy of City of Largo

“A few years ago, we began hosting a mid-county deployment site, which means that we host training for volunteers in our area leading up to the count and deploy volunteers on the day of the count to complete surveys,” said Woodard. The deployment site also provides support for volunteers and distributes and collects all materials used. “Typically, one or two 1.5-hour training sessions are offered for employees and community volunteers at our site.” Several more training sessions are held throughout the county with other deployment sites and partnering agencies.

Although volunteers use Outreach Grid’s PIT count mobile app to gather data from people interviewed for the count, lessons learned in weather emergencies in the area have led to precautions in case volunteers have any problems with the app. “Every team has a few paper copies of the survey to use if the app is not working or if the person being interviewed is reluctant to consent to use of the digital survey,” said Woodard.

The first year of using the app was an overwhelming success. Only a few volunteers from community organizations could not download the app onto their agency-provided phones because their IT departments had not yet approved its use. “The Homeless Leadership Alliance of Pinellas (HLA) provided tablets for these volunteers or paper survey forms to overcome this issue,” said Woodard. With the majority of volunteers capturing data electronically, it saved hundreds of hours of data entry that has been required in years past. Data from the few paper surveys received was entered electronically at the deployment sites the same day as the count.

Data captured by the mobile device is immediately uploaded to the HLA platform to be verified and formatted for reporting to HUD, so no data stays on the individual’s phone or mobile device.

The PIT Planning Committee has also taken steps to ensure the safety of volunteers. “Our community agency personnel and volunteers survey people at parks, bus stops, shopping areas and other high visibility areas, but law enforcement officers survey people in less visible or higher risk areas such as encampments or in wooded areas,” Woodard said. “Law enforcement is a valuable partner during the PIT count because they can help us gather important data while keeping other volunteers safe.”

Sedionia Boone, Veteran Navigator with the Homeless Leadership Alliance of Pinellas, wears the distinctive PIT count T-shirt while talking with Workforce Development Specialist Joe Joseph.

Photo courtesy of Homeless Leadership Alliance of Pinellas

Efforts to streamline the process and thoroughly train and protect the safety of volunteers has paid off. “In the first year of deploying electronic surveys, we had the largest number of volunteers ever – the mobile technology did not deter agencies and community volunteers from participating,” said Woodard.

“The PIT Planning Committee holds a post-event debrief meeting after every PIT count. This always results in some tweaks to survey forms, volunteer recruitment or deployment efforts and is an important part of the process,” she said. Sometimes the changes are minor but critical as they continue to improve the PIT process each year, she added.

“Our PIT count volunteers wear distinctive T-shirts identifying them as official volunteers to reassure the people interviewed,” she said. “We realized that this is not effective if it is raining or cold and a jacket is covering the T-shirt. We are considering different options for the 2023 count, including a sash that can be placed over a jacket and can be re-used from year to year.”

Sheryl S. Jackson is a Writer/Editor for the Florida League of Cities.

Counting Throughout the Year

In addition to supporting the annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), cities throughout Florida continuously monitor homeless populations to identify trends that improve the decision-making process about programs.

As they provide assistance or handle calls, the City of Largo Police Department routinely includes a code that identifies homeless individuals. The information provides location, time of day and basic information that is then provided to the City’s Homeless Street Outreach Team. The information is used to identify individuals who may need services as well as overall trends in homelessness in the City.

Jacksonville’s Urban Rest Stop Healthmobile bus is designed to bring “Health and Hope on Wheels.”

The City of Jacksonville gathers ongoing data through services such as the Urban Rest Stop, which provides unsheltered homeless people with a place to access services such as showering, laundry and computer access and its extension, the Urban Rest Stop Healthmobile, which provides health care for people experiencing homelessness.

Ambassadors who walk or bicycle through the City to do a daily visual observation of new, existing or changing homeless populations keep staff at the City of Orlando informed of changing trends and provide important outreach services to those seeking assistance.

Orlando Ambassadors provide a year-round, ongoing evaluation of homelessness trends and connect people to services.