Counting the homeless in Idaho

The count, which will continue on Wednesday and Thursday nights, is an effort to “put a face on who the homeless are and paint a picture about the state of homelessness”, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority spokeswoman Naomi Goldman said.

Volunteers from the Black Hills Regional Homeless Coalition are preparing for the annual homeless count.

Cash donations, volunteers and renters, that’s what non-profits say they rely on most to help the homeless in our community this time of year.

This year the volunteers focused on trying to track down homeless veterans. The 2014 count showed homelessness had jumped by 39 percent from the year before.

Harbor Interfaith has placed 196 people into permanent housing since a year ago, said Shari Weaver, housing coordinator for the nonprofit.

“It’s important so we can get accurate numbers to get funding for everybody”. It counts the number of individuals in temporary housing, shelters, and those living on the street.

“If someone provides a place, we’ll provide the services”, he said, speaking of his baptist church in El Monte. “It’s also data that helps us work with the community-based organizations and the homeless service providers to figure out where best to allocate the dollars so that’ll do the most impact”.

This is one of the reasons why last year’s Point-in-Time census was so low, Murphy said.

Rural states like SC are given a week to ask homeless people where they slept on January 27. She said the service survey will entail visiting shelter locations.

“But it’s never just a problem of homelessness”, Burgess said.

Tripp, Rutherford and Burnette said one of the biggest obstacles identified by homeless people in Spartanburg is a lack of affordable housing.

Volunteers gathered at 4:30 p.m.in a building downtown and snacked on sandwiches while listening to Nicholas Amis, director of planning at the homeless coalition, give pointers on how to administer the survey. Officials said the count is crucial in creating strategies that can end chronic homelessness. “It’s my life. I don’t need help”.