Last Updated on January 19, 2023 5:41 pm
Boone, N.C. – Wednesday, January 25, 2023, marks the annual homeless Point-in-Time Count. The Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, coordinated by the Northwest Continuum of Care (CoC), is the annual documentation of the extent of homelessness in the High Country region, which includes Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey counties. The information from the PIT Count provides a valuable snapshot of the extent of homelessness in the region and informs support service providers on the priorities to prevent and end homelessness.
The PIT Count is a one-day unduplicated count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals and families in the country. The Point-in-Time Count is a requirement of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which currently supports the Northwest CoC member agencies with $460,380 in competitive grant funding. Programs that have beds dedicated to serve homeless individuals and families also conduct a bed inventory for the Housing Inventory Count (HIC)
The 2022 PIT Count documented 193 people experiencing homelessness both sheltered and unsheltered, 23 percent of those being children and adolescents under age 18 and who were 27 percent of the total 88 unsheltered individuals from all 7 Northwestern counties.
“With additional COVID related funding and emergency housing vouchers the Northwest CoC successfully housed a record number of people this past year,” states Northwest CoC lead and Hospitality House of Northwest North Carolina executive director Tina B. Krause.
Continued Krause, “While we have made inroads in reducing the number of families experiencing unsheltered homelessness, the lack of safe, affordable housing in our region continues to be a major obstacle to ending homelessness.”
The Northwest CoC asks churches, local governments agencies, law enforcement agencies and service providers – food pantries, shelters, community kitchens, schools, utilities, and hospitals – who are in contact with individuals and families experiencing homelessness to contact Hospitality House of Northwest N.C, the lead agency of the Northwest CoC, so that everyone experiencing homelessness is counted. Please call (828) 264-1237 and speak with director of grant funding Ethan Flynn or email him at grants@hosphouse.org.
If you are experiencing homelessness, please come forward to be counted. Let a food pantry, school, community kitchen or church know where you are. The count respects confidentiality of those experiencing homelessness and does not obligate anyone for unwanted services. Knowing the extent of homelessness, particularly homeless families, and veterans, assists the development of support services to meet the basic needs of housing to those in need.
