Volunteers take on an ‘intense’ survey
Point-in-time count looks at homelessness throughout county
On a cold, dark night in Pottstown, volunteers traversed the land looking for people experiencing homelessness.
The exercise was part of Montgomery County’s Pointin-Time count, an annual initiative designed to gain insight into the local homelessness situation. Around 40 volunteers participated from 6-10 p.m. on Tuesday, according to Kayleigh Silver, administrator of the Montgomery County Office of Housing and Community Development.
“It paints one small snapshot on what homelessness likely looks like on any one given night in Montgomery County,” Silver said.
The count, which is mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, covered areas in and around Abington, Ambler, Ardmore, Bridgeport, Cheltenham, King of Prussia, Lansdale, Lower Merion, Norristown, Pottstown, Souderton and Willow Grove.
“Homelessness is a community issue; it’s a community-level issue. A night like tonight is a good way to see things that you might not otherwise see, know about,” said Mark Boorse, director of program development for Access Services.
Boorse is no stranger to Pottstown, as he’s cultivated relationships through Access Services’ Street Medicine
program. The initiative provides outreach and other health care services to those experiencing homelessness.
“We were already out here today so we could talk to people, sort of figure out who was where, and also let them know that we were going to be out here later tonight so they would know to expect us,” Boorse said. “I think we’re doing a pretty good job of finding the people we expected to find.”
Cold Blue shelters were also open Tuesday night in Lansdale, Norristown and Pottstown. While advocates maintain that homelessness occurs countywide, what that looks like differs from place to place.
In Pottstown, seven volunteers carried flashlights, which were necessary to navigate through several encampments and an abandoned warehouse during the four-hour-long count.
Walking paths were caked in mud and lined with trash and other discarded items throughout the “Tent City” encampment, located in the woods just off the train tracks. Tents and tarps designated spaces for its residents, many of whom were in their tents for the night as volunteers sought to count them and inquire further about their situations.
Representatives from the Montgomery County Department of Public Safety offered to administer Covid-19 and flu shots, as well as hand out Covid-19 tests and Narcan to people staying in the encampment.
The federal survey includes a number of demographic-based questions for participants including age, disability and veteran status. Volunteers also sought to learn where people were sleeping on Jan. 24. Potential responses included the street or sidewalk, a vehicle, an abandoned warehouse, or the woods or outdoor encampment.
“I think for a lot of people it’s an invisible issue. I want to make sure I see it and help bring that visibility to others as well,” Montgomery County Commissioners’ Vice Chairman Ken Lawrence Jr. said. “I don’t think you can see it and not want to do more.”
Lawrence has participated in the Point-in-Time count for the past four years, but Tuesday night was his first time touring Pottstown’s homeless encampments.
“This is intense,” he said while standing in “Tent City.”
That particular encampment has been around for decades, according to Boorse, who estimated between four and 12 people are currently staying there. At one time, its occupancy was as high as 30 people.
“I just wanted to see what it was like. We never knew where a whole lot of people were in Pottstown, said Kiki Meade, a volunteer and vice president of the Ann Frances Outreach Foundation.
While some were described as “standoffish,” many people encountered on Tuesday night in Pottstown complied with answering survey questions.
“I just think people are heartless toward homeless people. They’re people too. They have feelings. They’re just like us. They’re just down on their luck right now,” Meade said.
Advocates and officials have observed homelessness on the rise in the state’s second wealthiest county. Silver has long attributed the lack of affordable housing stock, the Covid-19 pandemic and devastating impacts from the remnants of Hurricane Ida as reasons for the uptick.
“There’s been a sharp increase across the board. I think we see that, we see that in almost every community,” Boorse said.
Boorse noticed the increasing use of designated Code Blue shelters like the one at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lansdale.
“Last year, they were at a third of their capacity,” Boorse said. “This year, they’re full, and they’ve had an increase of people who come in cars because people are realizing there’s just more people, there’s a lot more people who are experiencing homelessness over the past two years.”
Silver said she’s heard of more seniors experiencing homelessness. Meade said she’s also seen changes.
“Homelessness looks different too,” Meade said. “People you wouldn’t think are homeless are homeless. It looks different. Families are sleeping in their cars.”
In addition to the annual Point-in-Time count, Your Way Home and other housing officials track data throughout the year, Silver said.
Street Outreach initiatives with community members, veterans and youth have served 2,184 unique persons from Jan. 1, 2022, to Dec. 31, 2022, in Montgomery County, according to Silver.
“If a Street Outreach team has engaged with a household, that means they have been in some sort of housing or homeless crisis,” she said. “Whether they remained homeless, or remained having
to stay outside, the data does not tell us that.”
The Coordinated Homeless Outreach Center, previously located on the grounds of the Norristown State Hospital, closed earlier this summer as overseers. Resources for Human Development is working to build another location. The portion of land that held the facility, which previously served as a resource center and the county’s largest and only 50-bed homeless shelter for single adults, was conveyed from the state to the Municipality of Norristown.
Silver stressed the county is offering additional hoteling services and other resources to those in need, but it’s not yet known how the closure will impact homeless figures.
“The Point-in-Time count is only telling us one thing, and it’s a very important measure, and a very important data point, but it also doesn’t tell us everything,” Silver said. “Yes, we have seen an uptick in numbers year-round. Will that translate to an uptick on one given night? Maybe. Maybe not.”
Last year’s report detailed 568 people who were staying in “emergency shelters,”
“transitional housing projects” or outside in Montgomery County. Substantiated figures for this most recent event aren’t expected for several weeks.
“We need to have more services. We need to get to the root of why people are homeless and fix that problem,” said Kelly Horvat, president of the Ann Frances Outreach Foundation and Pottstown-based Point-inTime Count volunteer.
Temperatures averaged at 31 degrees in Pottstown by the end of the Tuesday night count. Preliminary, unofficial findings showed there were 37 people outside in Pottstown, with another 28 in the warming center run by the Pottstown Beacon of Hope out of St. Paul’s United Church of Christ on North Franklin Street, Boorse said on Wednesday.
“In a suburban county, there’s such a variability in terms of where homelessness is, and what it looks like in different communities, and I think the public conversation is really starting to gain speed around how can we on … a local community level assist with the folks who are living outside?” Boorse said.