1. Volunteer Coordination for Point-in-Time Homeless Counts
6/6/2019
Volunteer Coordination for Point-in-Time Homeless Counts
Jennifer Hales, Planner,
City of Vancouver
November 17, 2015
Module 3 – Planning for Success

2. Acknowledgement of Coast Salish Territories
Musqueam
Tsleil-Waututh
Squamish
Map source:

3. Presentation Overview
Context
Volunteers: Keys to Success
Recruiting
Coordinating
Training
Supporting
Retaining
Lessons learned

4. Context

5. Vancouver in the Region
Metro Vancouver – 21 municipalities, one treaty First Nation and one electoral area
Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness (2000)
Aboriginal Steering Committee on Homelessness (2000)
Plans to end homelessness:
Regional Plan: 3 Ways to Home (2001)
City of Vancouver Homelessness Action Plan (2005)
City of Vancouver Housing and Homelessness Strategy ( )
Draft Regional Homelessness Plan ( )

6. History of PiT Counts PiT counts across Metro Vancouver
every 3 years since 2002
PiT counts in City of Vancouver
annually since 2010 (9 total since 2002)
City of Vancouver staff spearhead the CoV count
Hire external Count Consultant and Area Coordinators
Methodology consistent for comparability

7. Street and Sheltered Homeless in City of Vancouver 2002-2015

8. Volunteers: Keys to Success

9. Why Volunteers? Large-scale project
Volunteers have a crucial and important role
Conduct the count on the street and in shelters
They are your data collectors
They are the ‘face’ of the count
For a successful count, recruit, train & support them well
Opportunity to engage and educate

10. Recruiting Volunteers: How Many?
Determine number
For street count
For shelter count
Vancouver example
# for the street count:
Exercise with Homeless Outreach Teams
Identified known locations of people living outside in 4 areas of city (WS, ES, DT, DTES)
Created maps
2 volunteers for each map
Over 200 maps
Over 400 volunteers needed for street count

11. Recruiting Volunteers: How Many?
Vancouver example
# for the shelter count:
Shelter Count Coordinator communicates with shelter managers
22 adult shelters with 1000 shelter beds in March 2015
Estimate 1 volunteer for 10 shelter guests
100 volunteers needed for shelter count
9 Extreme Weather Response (EWR) shelters with max of 190 beds in March 2015
18 extra volunteers in case EWR shelters open

12. Recruiting Volunteers: How Many?
Final word on recruitment:
Be prepared for cancellations and ‘no shows’
Recruit more than you need
Train them all
Have an ‘on-call’ pool of trained volunteers
those who are not assigned
those who are prepared to do more than one shift

13. Recruiting Volunteers: Develop a call-out strategy
Public or within your networks?
Timing and phasing
Format – letter? Posters?
Key messages – importance of count
Who are you recruiting? Who is the ideal volunteer?
Personality important
Consider needs if doing targeted Aboriginal or youth strategy
Application process
Make it easy – both for volunteers to sign up and for you to manage
Get as much info as possible
Contact info
Availability (street or shelter, time, training sessions)
Experience
Other (mobility challenges, prefer to bike, etc.)

14. Recruiting Volunteers: Call-out strategy
Vancouver example
recruitment letter (see handout)
1st call-out: 2 – 2.5 months in advance
Online application form using Fluid Survey:

15. Coordinating Volunteers
Importance of Volunteer Coordinators
Vancouver: 4 Area Coordinators and 1 Shelter Count Coordinator
Organization and communication skills paramount!
Assign and pair volunteers appropriately
Ensure volunteers attend training / sign waiver
Coordinate and support volunteers on count day
Takes more time than you think
Things you can do to standardize/streamline volunteer coordination process
Clear roles and responsibilities
Templates for communication with volunteers
Clear milestones dates

16. Training Volunteers Make training mandatory
For street count
For shelter count
Be respectful of people’s time
Offer food
Provide as much information as possible
Coordinator on hand to register and answer any questions
Two parts:
Detailed review of survey tool
Tips for approaching people, interviewing and staying safe (outreach team)
Waiver
Instruction package to take home (see handout)
Minimize time between training and the count

17. Supporting and Retaining Volunteers
Respond to questions and concerns respectfully and quickly
Communication skills of Volunteer Coordinators
Send a “Thank You”
Ask for feedback
Exit survey
What can be done better next time?
Share the results

18. Lessons Learned

19. Key Take Aways Communication, communication, communication!
Give lots of time
Training and engagement
Appreciation

20. Thank you!
vancouver.ca/housing