HIC: ‘Everyone counts’

HUD initiative hopes to get accurate number for homeless population

By Ralph Hardin

news@theeveningtimes.com

The recent snowstorm and accompanying frigid temperatures have served to highlight the continuing problem of homelessness in the United States.

More than half a million Americans are homeless (or “unhoused,” as has become the politically correct terminology). Getting available assistance to the unhoused is often difficult because of the insufficient data on where these individuals are or even how many homless people live in a specific area. One of the keys to allocating resources in the right areas and in the right quantities relies on getting as accurate a count on homelessness in areas of the country This is where the Point in Time Count comes in.

The Point-in-Time (PIT) count is a count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January. HUD requires that CoCs conduct an annual count of people experiencing homelessness who are sheltered in emergency shelter, transitional housing, and Safe Havens on a single night. CoCs also must conduct a count of unsheltered people experiencing homelessness every other year (even numbered years). Each count is planned, coordinated, and carried out locally.

The Housing Inventory Count (HIC) is a point-in-time inventory of provider programs within a Continuum of Care that provide beds and units dedicated to serve people experiencing homelessness (and, for permanent housing projects, where homeless at entry, per the HUD homeless definition), categorized by five Program Types: Emergency Shelter; Transitional Housing; Rapid Re-housing; Safe Haven; and Permanent Supportive Housing.

Data for the PIT count and HIC are submitted to HUD via the online data submission Homelessness Data Exchange (HDX). New users of the HDX should view the HUD HDX Training Modules, a series of six user-friendly HDX training modules to help communities use the HDX and gain the most out of their data.

Volunteers are needed for the Point in Time (PIT) count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness in Arkansas. The Department of Housing and Urban Development requires that Chambers of Commerce conduct an annual count of people experiencing homelessness. The 2024 PIT count will be Wednesday, Jan. 24. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Casey Kidd at AR Balance of State at (501) 431-7041, or by email at ckidd@occnet.org.

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