The County of Lassen, in partnership with several agencies, will be conducting a Point-in-Time Count of Homelessness beginning Tuesday, January 24th, and ending Friday, January 27th.
The Point-in-Time Count is intended to provide a snapshot of a community’s homeless population. The annual count is mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for communities across the country to receive funding. During the last 10 days of January, thousands of volunteers canvass communities, as well as count and survey individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
The County’s Point-in-Time has three main components: a shelter and institution count, a street count and a service-based count.
Shelter Count
The shelter count will be conducted to include all individuals who stay in emergency shelters (including individuals who stayed in domestic violence shelters or who received motel/hotel vouchers) or transitional housing on the night of January 24th, 2017.
Street Count
The street-based count will take place on January 25th, 2017, between 6:00a.m. to 12:00p.m. Trained enumerators will be deployed across the City of Susanville and surrounding areas, in groups of three, to canvass streets looking for people experiencing homelessness.
Using a short survey, enumerators will speak to all willing participants encountered on the streets, parking lots, and other locations in order to learn more about their housing situation and characteristics.
Lassen County’s Behavioral Health Department will sponsor a magnet event that will take place on January 25th, between 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and located at 1400-A Chestnut Street. At this event, Behavioral Health, Public Assistance, and other services; bus passes; refreshments; clothing; and blankets will be offered to people who are experiencing homelessness.
Service-Based Count
The service-based count will take place on January 26th and 27th, between 7:00a.m. and 5:00p.m. Several agencies that provide services to homeless people will conduct follow-up surveys for any person experiencing homelessness that were unsheltered, but not counted during the Sheltered or Street Counts.
The communities of Westwood, Bieber/Nubieber, and Herlong/Doyle will host their own magnet events. The rationale for hosting these magnet events is to encourage homeless people in the rural areas to be counted. The magnet events will be held, as designated below:
Fort Sage Family Resource Center on January 26, 2017, between 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Big Valley’s Family Resource Center on January 27, 2017, between 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Westwood’s Family Resource Center on January 27, 2017, between 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Preliminary results from the Point-in-Time Count will be released as soon as possible after the data has been compiled.
