Volunteers Needed For 2019 Pierce County Homeless Count

PUYALLUP, WA — Officials with Pierce County Human Services are seeking volunteers to assist with the annual Point-in-Time count of people experiencing various degrees of homelessness in the local area.

Scheduled to take place Jan. 25, 2019, the Point-in-Time count will tally the numbers of people who are homeless in Pierce County and specify the way in which they are experiencing homelessness — be it sheltered or unsheltered — as well as the individual's stated reasoning for why they're homeless, among other demographic statistics.

Point-in-Time count training events are scheduled throughout December and early January, with the final training event set for Jan. 14 at the Parkland/Spanaway Pierce County Library.

The count that occurred in January 2018 reportedly saw 337 volunteers participate — a 53 percent increase from the year before, which still saw an incredible 219 volunteers help out by counting and surveying individuals found at area shelters and outdoor encampments throughout the county.

Homelessness is prevalent throughout the area, officials noted in the 2018 report, though the most dense concentrations can be found around Tacoma, Lakewood, Puyallup, Spanaway, and Fife.

With more than 1,600 people officially labeled homeless in some sense during the 2018 count, 256 (16 percent) of those individuals cited a lack of affordable housing as the primary reason for their situation. Next came underemployment or low income, which was reported by 172 people (11 percent).

Other common reasons were related to evictions and/or mortgage foreclosures, the loss of a job, or domestic violence — specifically victims.

Perhaps interestingly, the overwhelming majority of people surveyed (438, or 27 percent) could not cite any reason for their homelessness, and more than half (60 percent) claimed they had no resources to speak of, such as an income or state food benefits.

Nearly 150 people (9 percent) said they held gainful employment, the report showed, while 5 percent of those surveyed said they received benefits from either pensions or other retirement payouts, social security, unemployment, or the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

More than 950 people, or 59 percent, were between the ages of 25 and 54, while 250 (15 percent) were younger than 18 years old.

Previous yearly counts show a kind of ebb and flow of homeless people surveyed, which may not necessarily reflect the actual numbers of homeless individuals in the area due to the logistics of holding the count. However, the 2018 count reported only the second highest number of people located, with the 2016 count reporting a total of 1,762 people surveyed.

Incidentally, of the 1,762 people counted in 2016, well more than half (1,268) reported having some kind of shelter. The numbers from 2018 show a more balanced ratio, with 878 reporting some kind of shelter and 750 reporting they live outside.

Folks interested in volunteering to assist with the 2019 count will need to meet the following requirements:

• Must be at least 18 years of age;
• Must attend a Point in Time Count Training (see schedule below);
• Search for unsheltered homeless within designated locations;
• Survey individuals experiencing homelessness using a mobile app;
• Provide individuals who have been surveyed with incentives as available; and
• At least one member on the team must have access to a smart phone, tablet, or laptop with wi-fi.

Trainings are scheduled for the following dates and times at the noted locations:

• Dec. 5 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Gig Harbor Library;
• Dec. 10 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Parkland/Spanaway Library;
• Dec. 11 from 5 to 7 p.m. at South Hill Library;
• Dec. 12 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Lakewood Library;
• Dec. 17 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Graham Library;
• Dec. 18 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Tacoma Soundview Office;
• Jan. 7, 2019 from 9 to 11 a.m. at Tacoma Soundview Office;
• Jan. 8, 2019 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at South Hill Library;
• Jan. 10, 2019 from 9 to 11 a.m. and again from 5 to 7 p.m. at Tacoma Soundview Office; and
• Jan. 14, 2019 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Parkland/Spanaway Library.

Click here to register

For more information on the Point-in-Time count, visit PierceCountyWA.gov.

Image via Shutterstock, video via Pierce County Television/YouTube