ADA COUNTY, Idaho — Social workers at Our Path Home have begun making contact with people on the street all across Ada County to compile the annual Point in Time (PIT) count to gauge the number of people experiencing homelessness in the area.
PIT numbers go back to 2012. It shows the number of homeless people peaking at 867 in 2016 and hitting the floor at 502 people in 2021. However, the 2021 data is largely inaccurate due to COVID concerns largely stopping street counts, according to Our Path Home manager Casey Mattoon.
"Point in time count measures a very specific thing, which is how many people are experiencing literal homelessness that we can have a conversation with, on the day that we're measuring," Mattoon said. "The definition of homelessness is somebody has to be experiencing literal homelessness, which for us is they're either staying and temporary emergency shelter, temporary housing, which is a very specific program, or they're on the streets, in their car, or in a place that's not meant for human habitation. "
The 2024 PIT count date is for the night of January 24. Due to the short window and the nature of the data collection, PIT counts only show the floor of what a community’s homeless population is in actuality.
"It's a difference of hundreds," Mattoon said. "Folks are showing up at the shelter doors, and folks are showing up at our partners seeking housing resources to get back into housing. And that demand is higher, as reported by our partner agencies."
The 2024 PIT count will be released in the coming months, according to Mattoon. Previous counts and trends can be seen here.
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