Point in Time Count Instructions

Overview

As part of our McKinney-related obligation to the HUD, homeless service providers in the Balance of State Continuum of Care are required to participate in a point-in-time count of homeless persons on Wednesday, January 26, 2005. 

The counties in the Balance of State Continuum of Care include:
Adams, Asotin, Benton, Bremerton City of, Chelan, Clallam, Columbia, Cowlitz, Douglas, Ferry, Franklin, Garfield, Grant, Grays Harbor, Island, Jefferson, Kitsap, Kittitas, Klickitat, Lewis, Lincoln, Mason, Okanogan, Pacific, Pend Oreille, San Juan, Skagit, Skamania, Stevens, Thurston, Wahkiakum, Walla Walla, Whatcom, and Whitman. 

Counties not in the Balance of State Continuum of Care are also invited to participate, and can take advantage of the forms, database, and technical assistance we are offering to assist with the point in time count. 

At a minimum, the count should include all the people in emergency shelters, transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, food banks, and soup kitchens in your community. 

Where feasible, homeless persons on the street, in the woods/brush, and "couch surfers" should also be counted.

Here are links to the form that will be used to perform the count:
http://housing-information.net/count-info/count-form.pdf  [PDF]
http://housing-information.net/count-info/count-form.html [HTML]

Step 1 - Identify a continuum count coordinator

Each county needs to identify a coordinator who will work with CTED and local homeless service providers to conduct the one-time count.

The coordinator will receive the survey forms from CTED, distribute them to homeless service providers in their continuum, and arrange for the completed forms to be typed into the web-based database.

Once you have identified a coordinator, send the contact's phone, email, and street address to CTED at teddk@cted.wa.gov.

Step 2 - Identify contact for each homeless service provider

The continuum coordinator will identify a person from each homeless service provider in their continuum who will be responsible for organizing the completing of the survey forms.

Providers that are required to participate are: emergency shelters, transitional housing programs, permanent supportive housing programs, feeding programs, and foodbanks.

Step 3 - Distribute forms to each homeless service provider

CTED will provide each coordinator with paper forms to collect the point in time count information. The coordinator will distribute the forms to providers, or provide them with an electronic copy of the form that can be printed and copied on-site ( http://housing-information.net/count-info/count-form.pdf )

Step 4 - Forms are completed by homeless persons and/or staff at each facility on January 26

One point in time count form should be completed for each homeless household on January 26, 2005. Forms can be completed by homeless persons and/or staff.  Incomplete forms are OK, but ideally the entire form will be completed.  See instructions on the backside of the form for details.

If it is not possible to fill out forms on January 26, a homeless provider can alternately choose any 24 hour period during the week January 23 to 29.  Because the database recognizes duplicate clients, different organizations collecting information on different days in the same community will not result in a duplicated count.

Step 5 - Forms are entered into the web-based database

The count coordinator will identify people in their community to type form data into the database. Each form takes less than a minute to type in.  The person entering the forms into the database will need access to a PC with an internet connection.  

Forms should be collected in batches by organization, so they can grouped in the database by facility. For example, "Salvation Army Men's Shelter" forms should be clipped together an labeled "Salvation Army Men's Shelter."  The person(s) entering the forms into the database will enter the Salvation Army Men's Shelter forms into a specific online account labeled "Salvation Army Men's Shelter."  This will allow the production of reports that break-out the people served by facility.  CTED will work with the count coordinator to setup these accounts.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Where do we find people to safely count homeless persons living outside?

- Existing homeless outreach workers
- Food Bank volunteers who already know homeless persons and are comfortable seeking them out.
- Formally homeless persons
- Park Service employees
- Fire fighters
- Sheriff/Police

Where do we find homeless persons living outside?

Prior to the count many communities identified a list of places where homeless persons are known to congregate.  These lists were assembled by:
- Asking homeless persons in shelter or at feeding programs where encampments are
- Asking people in encampments if they know where other encampments are
- Asking police officers
- Asking city/state/federal park department employees

Some communities are considering offering homeless persons socks, flashlights, and other items to help induce participation in the count.

How do we find homeless youth?

- School districts are required by the federal government to have homeless youth liaisons
- Shopping malls
- Alternative schools/Alternative education programs

What if we have questions/need more help?

If you need help don't hesitate to contact Tedd Kelleher at (360) 725-2930 or teddk@cted.wa.gov 
Beyond what we know, we can arrange peer-mentoring with others to help you address problems specific to your type of community and geography.

Why are we doing this?

The first answer is HUD is requiring us to do a count to receive the $3 million/year in HUD McKinney grants that support projects for homeless persons throughout the Balance of State Continuum of Care (details on Continuum here: http://housing-information.net/cofc/ )

Beyond the requirement, the count (although far from perfect) provides valuable information on the size and characteristics of homelessness in our state.  This information can be used to target limited resources, and measure the effectiveness of our efforts. To view the results from last year's count, go here:
http://housing-information.net/count_results/