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4 GROUNDCOVER NEWS HOMELESSNESS The Washtenaw County Continuum of Care completed its annual Point in Time count early Thursday with dozens of volunteers taking a snapshot of people experiencing homelessness. Mandated by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Continuums of Care are bodies charged with ending homelessness, in particular through getting involvement community-wide. The result? The count of unsheltered people, conducted from 10 p.m. Wednesday to 2 a.m. Thursday, increased over the previous year’s count by more than threefold, up from 6 to 22. Volunteers and Washtenaw County staffers scoured the entire county in the light snow, handing out snacks and even offering a one-night hotel stay if the people they encountered wanted it. In some sense, the increase in unhoused persons found for the count reflects greater diligence and location information going in, but it is also likely that the sheer numbers increased. It is important because it JANUARY 27, 2023 Point in time count seeks snapshot of homelessness CYNTHIA PRICE Editor An intrepid group of Point in Time volunteers ready to leave for the count. Organizer Andrew Kraemer is seated in front. informs how much funding a county CoC receives from HUD. The volunteers, recruited and organized by Washtenaw County CoC Data Coordinator Andrew Kraemer, must watch a training video, and they receive a route. Many have years of experience. Teams were able to connect before going out for the count. They also give a brief survey to anyone they find experiencing unsheltered homelessness. The challenges inherent in that snapshot approach likely result in underreporting, but that condition applies equally to all of the 400 CoCs in the U.S. The online 2022 count report for Washtenaw County warns, “The reader is … cautioned that since compliance with these [methodology] standards may vary, the reliability and consistency of the homeless counts may also vary among CoCs.” (That report may be found at the HUD exchange website by filtering the search for MI-509.) The 2022 report states that there were 172 homeless people in the County as of the 2022 Point in Time Count. The full figures for 2023 will be released at the end of February. Different CoCs make detailed plans to get the number of people experiencing extended houselessness down to zero. The Point in Time count is just one way they obtain data that shapes their planning. Critics say that even within the snapshot framework there are ways to take a more accurate count. Outreach to see PIT page 9  Family housing emergency resources – HAWC back on track Family homelessness is exploding this winter. When Covid emergency funds ended and inflation spiked, families fell off the cliff, especially large families. To make matters worse, the Washtenaw County single point of entry, HAWC, was undergoing a rocky transition from being run by the Salvation Army to being run by Washtenaw County’s Office of Community and Economic Development. Staffing HAWC services has been the main challenge in transitioning the hotline to a new service provider. With phone calls often not answered and messages not returned for days or more, even the resources available for imminent emergencies were not reaching those who needed them. Word got around to not even bother calling HAWC. The Shelter Association of Washtenaw County and MISSION were providing limited emergency hotel stays with funds from the Emergency Sheltering Program. David Goldbaum, Program Manager of MISSION's Family Emergency Sheltering program, was concerned about the conditions families with children were living in due to systemic dysfunction. Kathy Wyatt, Executive Analyst and Assistant to the Washtenaw County funding from the County and its cities. At the height of the pandemic, when SUSAN BECKETT Publisher emeritus sheriff, reported that judges are just sick over the evictions they are forced to sanction by law, knowing that these families have nowhere to turn. Fortunately, HAWC staffing is now in place to both answer calls and provide immediate stipends or hotel stays for those who would otherwise spend the night exposed to winter weather. The County provided $50,000 in funding to the Emergency Sheltering Program for the stipends and hotel stays, but with 29 families on the literally homeless list and an average wait-time of 101 days for placement in permanent housing, officials expect the sheltering program will need $695,000-$995,000 to shelter those families through March. They are hoping for additional proximity to others posed danger of infection and hospitalization, the Covid Emergency Rental Assistance program provided federal funds to help people pay for their own lodging. Now the CERA program has ended and rental prices, along with the cost of everything else, has made self-sufficiency impossible for some families. The Covid-19 risk to vulnerable family members makes the traditional doubling up of families untenable for many. Most of the families now on the waiting list for housing are new to the system. It has been especially difficult for larger families who require multiple rooms. The average size of the families now calling HAWC is 3.8 people. HAWC does the initial intake and provides emergency shelter assistance if needed, then refers families to SOS Community Services and individuals to the Shelter Association (the Delonis Center) for a thorough assessment that could lead to permanent housing. SOS has hired three additional staff to do these assessments. They were completing training in late January. The Shelter Association was trying to hire two additional assessment staffers as of late January. Families can now expect an assessment one to two weeks after their HAWC intake. Call 734-961-1999 to get started. Having financial records on hand will expedite assistance. Urgent cases — those with no shelter — can come in person at 8:30 a.m., Monday-Thursday to the Delonis Center or SOS. Editor’s note: During the Continuum of Care board meeting on January 18, HAWC call center data was presented, praised for improvements and then critiqued after further examination. It was determined that many metrics were missing from the call center’s data presentation including time between intake and assessment. Groundcover News will follow up on the stated improvements of HAWC staffing and oversight to determine if HAWC begins to meet community standards across the board. Individuals and families should continue to call HAWC, as CoC representatives are concerned that improvement in call center metrics is due to widespread frustration with the hotline rather improvement. than operational

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