2012 Summer Enhanced PIT Count Revised 06/21/12

2012 Summer PIT Count Who are we? WVCEH – WV Coalition to End Homelessness CoC – Continuum of Care BoS – Balance of State HUD – Department of Housing and Urban Development

2012 Summer PIT Count Balance of State Continuum of Care

2012 Summer PIT Count 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 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 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 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 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 homelessNUMBER TO REPORT IN population in reporting countyNON-REPORTING COUNTY Population 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 Goals of the Summer Count: 1)to strengthen relationships with community stakeholders around the issue of homelessness 1)to test the quality of the data generated by expanding the stakeholders who participate in the Point In Time study 1)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 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 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 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 Questions?

2012 Summer PIT Count Amanda Sisson HMIS Data Coordinator/Trainer Administrative Officer WV Balance of State Continuum of Care/WVCEH 160 John Street Weston, WV