Point in Time Count to Commence This Month
The annual count of those experiencing homelessness is critical for a better understanding of the size and needs of that population, and an excellent way for the community to get involved.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Email Martin
Just after Christmas in 2024, the Department of Housing and Urban Development issued its annual report on homelessness. As the Advance reported, the numbers of those experiencing homelessness nationally are soaring. Locally, however, the number of homeless has remained fairly constant in our area.
The path to knowing whether that population in Planning District 16 continues to be relatively stable, increases as it has elsewhere in the country, or begins to decline, starts on Thursday, January 23.
That day, the Fredericksburg Regional Continuum of Care (CoC) — the federally mandated local planning body that coordinates housing and services for homeless families and individuals in Planning District 16 — will conduct its annual count, known as the Point in Time count, of those experiencing homelessness.
“Everyone can get involved in this,” Megan Samples told the Advance on Monday. “It’s a way for everyday people and public officials to get involved and see the work being done” in our community around this issue. Samples is the program coordinator for housing and community health with the George Washington Regional Commission. She also sits on the board of the Fredericksburg Advance.
Samples says that the CoC provides training for those who want to volunteer, and places them in teams of at least two or three people. Each team has a lead who has previously done the Point in Time count.
“The information gathered during the Point in Time Count,” said the press release issued by the Fredericksburg Regional Continuum of Care (See the full press release below), “is used by the community to better allocate housing resources and services in order to prevent and end homelessness. The PIT Count is the only opportunity throughout the year for most communities to take a comprehensive look at the total homeless population and is especially crucial in assessing the needs of the unsheltered homeless.”
“Volunteering like this,” Samples said, “you see who is really in need of services. It can bridge the divide between data about homelessness, and those who are experiencing homelessness in our region.”
While actually going out on the count requires walking, and some of the locations are “off the beaten path,” Samples said, everyone can get involved. “If mobility is an issue and people want to get involved,” Samples continued, “please reach out to me and we’ll find a way to get you plugged in.”
More Than Numbers
For Meghann Cotter, the executive servant-leader of Micah Ecumenical Ministries, the interesting information that comes out of this count “is not how many, but what the needs are,” she tells the Advance.
The PIT is a survey, so data is the major take-away. However, other information is collected. “They collect information on how many times people have been to the hospital,” said Cotter, and “how long they’ve been in.” It’s this kind of “anecdotal information” that helps local leaders better understand the complexity of needs that some who are experiencing homelessness contend with.
As she notes, working with a population that can problem-solve is quite different from a population that struggles with this skill, or suffers from physical and mental issues that complicate their lives.
For More Information
Visit the CoC website. The PIT press release can be downloaded below.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit the link that follows.
Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism
The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past year, our reporting was:
First to break the story of Stafford Board of Supervisors dismissing a citizen library board member for “misconduct,” without informing the citizen or explaining what the person allegedly did wrong.
First to explain falling water levels in the Rappahannock Canal.
First to detail controversial traffic numbers submitted by Stafford staff on the Buc-ee’s project
Our media group also offers the most-extensive election coverage in the region and regular columnists like:
And our newsroom is led by the most-experienced and most-awarded journalists in the region — Adele Uphaus (Managing Editor and multiple VPA award-winner) and Martin Davis (Editor-in-Chief, 2022 Opinion Writer of the Year in Virginia and more than 25 years reporting from around the country and the world).
For just $8 a month, you can help support top-flight journalism that puts people over policies.
Your contributions 100% support our journalists.
Help us as we continue to grow!
This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”