Volunteers needed for homeless count

The Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness (CCEH) is asking individuals across the state to take part in this year’s largest national data collection event on homelessness, set for Tuesday, Jan. 23. The Point-in-Time (PIT) count is an important annual exercise to estimate the total number of homeless individuals on a given night across Connecticut and the country.

Volunteers participating in the Point-in-Time count have the opportunity to participate in the fight to end homelessness in a meaningful way. The PIT is required by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to develop the data crucial to assessing the success of current programs, progress made nationally in the fight to end homelessness, and to determine future resource allocations for the upcoming year.

The count offers a chance for the homeless to connect with volunteer surveyors who can record their needs, and add them to community registries for housing resources.

Connecticut’s 2017 Pointin-Time Count showed substantial progress in efforts to end homelessness, with overall homelessness in Connecticut is down 24 percent compared to 2007 and chronic homelessness down by 11 percent from 2016.

This year the state will once again be using mobile technology for gathering PIT data. Canton, Mass.based Simtech Solutions developed the Counting Us mobile app, which volunteers can download for free from Google Play or the App Store. The app uses the built-in GPS functionality found within most smart phones and tablets to identify the location of the interaction with a person or family experiencing homelessness.

To learn more or to volunteer for the 2018 Point-InTime count, visit http:// cceh.org/pit/ct-pit-2018/ or contact Jackie Janosko at jjanosko@cceh.org. To learn more about the 2018 Youth Count visit http://cceh.org/ youth-count/.