The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
The 2017 Connecticut Point in Time Count
MIDDLETOWN >> Each year, Connecticut participates in the major national event, a Point in Time Count. The event gathers hundreds of volunteers to conduct a onenight count of homeless people in our state, both those sheltered and unsheltered. The 2017 Connecticut Point in Time Count is Jan. 24.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires this count be done annually of homeless people who are sheltered on odd-numbered years, such as this. The count includes sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons, including individuals who are staying in emergency shelters, transitional housing programs and areas not meant for human habitation.
Volunteers will congregate at various locations throughout the county to canvas a designated census block or set of census blocks and survey individuals or families experiencing homelessness. The Point in Time Count will begin with an orientation and brief training and volunteers will be assigned to chosen areas to locate unsheltered people and conduct the survey.
Information from the count will enable us to gauge the extent of homelessness, determine the services needed to end it and help leverage federal funding to support those services.
Taking place from Jan. 25 to 31 is the Connecticut Youth Count, a weeklong event to count all the sheltered and unsheltered homeless youth and young adults under the age of 25. This year will serve as the baseline year for collecting data on youth homelessness.
Volunteers are needed to participate during one or several time slots over the course of the week. Volunteers will be trained and placed on teams to conduct surveys with youth between the ages of 13 and 25 at indoor locations and/ or along predetermined routes for street outreach.
Please contact Carissa Conway at 203-235-9297, Ext. 126, to learn more and register for the Connecticut Youth Count.
Middlesex County youth are also bringing attention to the existence and conditions of homelessness by braving the winter cold and sleeping outdoors on Jan. 28. The annual Homelessness Awareness Discussion and SleepOut will take place at the Deep River Congregational Church.
During the event, the teens will hear first-hand testimony from former or current homeless individuals. They will receive information on Middlesex County’s efforts to prevent and end homelessness while discussing their perception of who the homeless are. A simple soup and bread dinner will be served.
Youth participants will then spend the night outside. In the past, some have chosen to sleep in their cars without heat, build cardboard shelters or just spread their sleeping bags on tarps on the frozen ground.
The event is sponsored by 10 faith-based organizations in collaboration with the Middlesex County Coalition on Housing and Homelessness. Here at Middlesex United Way, we are proud to be a funder and partner in the Middlesex County Coalition on Housing and Homelessness. Recently, the Coalition announced that as of Oct. 11, all chronically homeless on the waiting list had been matched with housing. This accomplishment is a milestone for not only Middlesex County but the entire state, and a reflection of the endless and tireless work the coalition has put into matching chronically homeless with housing.
If you know someone who is in need of housing, Connecticut has a regional system to access, assess and assign services for people who are experiencing a housing emergency. Please dial 2-1-1 to access shelter or other services, including homelessness prevention, rapid rehousing, transitional housing, permanent supportive housing and other related services.