Each year, the federal HUD bureau assigns a date for collecting data about local homeless populations. Any counties who participate may then seek funding tied to the information provided. For more info about this national initiative, read here: https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/hdx/pit-hic/.
Tri-County Cap, which serves three counties, is acting as the main coordinator of this info-gathering initiative. A Way Station team, along with White Horse staff, volunteers, and other organizations, will work with Tri-County Cap to gather feedback from new and familiar guests to our program. In cooperation with local service providers, the Tri-Cap organization is fielding teams in Northern and Southern Carroll County to conduct this survey. When they participate, people are invited to report the conditions in which they sheltered overnight.
Notably, in the past three years, our county went from reporting 0 (ZERO) homeless or housing-insecure individuals to an average of 100 persons in a 24-hour period! This change in reporting only happened when Tri-County Cap staff partnered with the Way Station and White Horse to more proactively gather information relevant to Carroll County. In the past, individual service providers attempted to collect such data, but didn't have the resources to conduct a comprehensive survey.
This year, more staff and volunteers are conducting Point in Time interviews in more locations. We're interviewing people over the phone and face to face. We hope to gain an even more-accurate profile of the individuals and households living unsheltered, on the street, under bridges, in cars, tent, sheds, storage units, and other locations not intended for human habitation, or short-term in hotels covered by rental assistance (NHERAP) programs.
In other counties, the Point in Time survey will also include people living in homeless shelters. Of course, we're the only county without a homeless shelter in northern New Hampshire!