The annual point-in-time number of homeless people in Northwest Florida is trending down, with some preliminary data showing it is likely to increase in many subpopulations in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. .
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Opening Doors Northwest Florida, which serves a two-county area, chose to begin the count on Monday night, Jan. 22.
A few days later, volunteers were conducting a survey at the Alfred Washburn Center for the Homeless in Pensacola.
Wednesday morning was cloudy and drizzly in the center. But here, as always, there are still long lines of people waiting for breakfast without shelter.
Today's menu is pancakes and shepherd's pie.
“This thing here will be gone in a few minutes,'' said one man, pouring out the syrup.
Meanwhile, a team of volunteers, primarily students from the University of West Florida, were given towels to provide a dry place for individuals to eat and wait for their chance to get to work.
With the Hyperion PIT Count app, which Opening Doors began using in 2020, surveys can be conducted on your phone in just minutes.
Related: Volunteers are needed for the homeless count.New app to speed up investigations
“Now I would like to introduce myself. Hello, I’m Leticia,” began Opening Doors staff member Leticia Bright, using her cell phone to demonstrate how the app works.
She pointed out that one of the new things this year was a script for the volunteers to follow, and she started reading the script.
“I'm conducting a short survey of people in the community who are experiencing homelessness,” Bright said, noting that volunteers are instructed to communicate the purpose of the survey to participants. . What kind of service do you need?
The script states that participation is voluntary and all responses are confidential.
If it determines that the person has already completed the survey, the app declares the interaction complete.
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WUWF Public Media
“If you say no, you move on to the next question (question): 'Where did you stay on Monday night, January 22nd?'”
She then explores the options available, including roads and sidewalks, vehicles, parks, abandoned buildings, bus stops and train stations, airports, under bridges and overpasses, forests and outdoor encampments, emergency or cold night shelters, and temporary housing. I showed you a long list. Hotel/Motel.
Volunteers have begun investigating nearby, asking the man where he slept on the night of the 22nd.
“Probably here,” came the reply, referring to the Alfred Washburn Center.
In another interview, a woman simply answered a question that she slept “outside.”
Related:Pensacola and Escambia leaders appeal for federal funding to end homelessness
Other questions attempt to get to the root of why individuals are unsheltered.
The center's director, Mike Kimberl, who was formerly homeless himself, said he has found that while medical emergencies and medical debt, unemployment and family tensions are fairly common causes, there is no one answer.
“But every time I think I've heard it all, someone sits across from me and tells me a story, and I think, 'I've never heard that before,'” Kimberl said. “So it's really a hodgepodge of reasoning.” [sic] It leads people to homelessness. ”
Kimberle acknowledged that the center is a great place to conduct the count because meals, showers and other services are available daily. And while the facility is privately funded and does not receive money directly as a result of the PIT count, customers are benefiting, he said.
“So we act as an entry point, linking people up with agencies that receive funds based on PIT counts, helping our clients elevate themselves further off the street,” he said.
Overseeing the PIT counts at Alfred Washburn and all other locations is Martika Baker, HMIS Director at Opening Doors. HMIS stands for Homeless Management Information System.
“We're seeing an increase in homelessness in certain groups,” Baker said Friday morning, with days left. “We are very close to last year's goal when it comes to unsheltered situations.”
In 2023, there were 742 homeless people without shelter. As of Friday morning, 706 surveys had been received.
“Today's data shows we still have a large male presence, so we have a lot of homeless men in our communities,” Baker said, adding that many of them live in uninhabited places. He added that he lives in .
Preliminary data also said about 10% of those tested were veterans and 130 were experiencing some form of chronic homelessness.
Baker explains what that means.
“They have been unhoused for an entire year or have been unhoused for a total of 12 months over a three-year period at least four times over a three-year period.”
Matched with the PIT count is the Housing Inventory County (HIC) of available beds and units for the homeless.
But the number of homeless people in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties — those sleeping in shelter beds on the night of Jan. 22 — may not be determined until the reporting deadline of Feb. 1.
The Okaloosa-Walton PIT count was conducted by the Homeless and Housing Alliance on the evening of January 26th.
