NEW PORT RICHEY, FL – The Coalition for the Homeless of Pasco County held its point-in-time count Tuesday.
- Pasco homeless coalition conducted PIT counts
- The organization trying to get better idea about county's homeless population
- Volunteers were sent to different parts of the county on Tuesday
"It's only right for us to know what kind of population we're dealing with, and then that way, we can base services on it," said Thomas O'Connor Bruno, the coalition's chief operating officer.
Teams of volunteers were sent to different parts of the county trying to make contact with unsheltered homeless individuals, count them, and ask them to take part in a voluntary interview to help the coalition learn more about them.
"We wanted to know what individuals' barriers to housing were so that we could focus services directly on those, whether it's financial, health, transportation or legal issues," Bruno said.
According to Bruno, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) mandates that a PIT count be held every other year. Bruno said volunteers counted 2,593 sheltered and unsheltered homeless during the 2017 count, but he believes that number should've been higher.
"The day of the count, it was rainy," Bruno said. "It didn't just rain and then leave, it came in waves. So, we were sure that we lost a lot of data as individuals who are in this predicament will get onto a bus to get out of the rain."
Pasco's numbers have been up and down through the years, ranging from a high of about 4,500 in 2011 to a low of 1,000 in 2015.
Bruno said the results of this year's count may be among the most accurate. Not only did volunteers have good weather, they were also armed with special apps on their cell phones to help them conduct interviews. They could record the most basic observational details of people who didn't want to speak with them.
Those who were more open to talking with volunteers could offer details of their stories, like what services they're already utilizing and what barriers are preventing them from accessing permanent housing. Some even gave the last four digits of the social security numbers or allowed their pictures to be taken to decrease the chance they'd be counted twice.
"I think we're going to have a lot cleaner data," said Hilary Bruno, a volunteer who's taken part in PIT counts before.
At their first stop, Hilary and fellow volunteers spoke with a small group of homeless individuals at a camp behind a shopping center.
"It's very sad. This is somebody's home. This is where somebody is going to be spending the night," she said of a mattress laying underneath a tree, surrounded by garbage, food, and children's toys.
Still, she said this stop went well. A number of people were willing to talk, and she gained some insight into the struggles of a young man she interviewed. He told her he'd lived in Pasco most of his life and had some legal issues, as well as a history of mental health and substance abuse problems.
"His biggest issue right now is trying to get on some sort of disability or something like that, but he's not able to get the medical records he needs because he has no insurance," Hilary said.
The results of PIT counts help determine how much funding communities get from HUD to address homelessness.
"There's a lack of funding in Pasco County overall – especially for the homeless," said Bruno. "It all boils down to affordable housing, though. That's the big issue – there needs to be more affordable housing."
Bruno expects to have a better idea of what the county's numbers look like at the beginning of next month. He also said while HUD mandates PIT counts occur every other year, the Pasco homeless coalition plans to start holding them annually to help better serve the homeless community.