Post on 11-Jan-2016
Counting the Homeless: Enhanced methods for enumeration of homeless persons
Catherine Troisi, Ph. DU Texas School of Public Health
Ritalinda Lee, Ph.D.Claris Technical Services
Gary M. Grier, JDCoalition For The Homeless of Houston/Harris County
Stephen Williams, MEd, MPAHouston Department of Health and Human Services30 October 2012
Presenter Disclosures
The following personal financial relationships with commercial interests relevant to this presentation existed during the past 12 months:
Catherine L. Troisi, Ph.D.
No relationships to disclose
Learning Objectives
Describe the Incident Command System (ICS)Discuss how ICS and other methods can be used to
build collaboration among community members, academics, health dept personnel, and providers of services to the homeless community
Explain how ICS can be applied to the enumeration of homeless persons
Discuss other methods for improving the PIT count of persons experiencing homelessness
Enumeration
Federally mandated count of homeless taking place during last 10 days of January
Street Count and Sheltered Count Also must enumerate HUD-defined subpopulations Canvass all of Houston/Harris County/Fort Bend
County Previous enumerations were not thought to be
optimal New/enhanced methodologies employed in 2011,
tweaked in 2012
Cities that Fit into Houston & ETJ Comparison
5
From: Knudson,LP www.knudsonlp.com
New/Enhanced Methodologies Employed
Joint effort between academia and communityCommunity engagement Incident Command StructureSpecialized Outreach TeamsPractice count and two PIT countsMore staging areasJust-in-Time trainingMulti-disciplinary surface teamsFrequent check-in on night of the CountPlant and Capture methodSWAT teamsGIS mapping systems
Joint Effort
Enumerator – UTSPH Incident Commanders – CFTH and UTSPHSection Chiefs – HDHHS and CFTH Incident Command Center– HDHHSTeam Captains – service providersSpecialized Outreach Teams – service providersSurface teams – service providers, homeless or
formerly homeless, community members, studentsNext day surveys – students, service providers
Community EngagementContinuum of Care housing providersService ProvidersConsumers, CAC, and CorpsSchoolsFaith based communitySpecialized outreach teams Special sub-populationsCitizen CorpsStudent groupsPublic officialsCitizen groups and organizationsCitizen’s Net
Community Engagement
Stand up and be Counted Corps
Pilot project funded by United Way for 201225 homeless or formerly homeless personsDevelop training methodology on how to
determine who is homeless and engage appropriately
Map and strategize on homeless hot spotsGuide the community on homeless issuesHomeless Guides with Surface and Specialized
teamsConsumer Advisory Council
Stand Up and Be Counted Corps
Community Engagement
Incident Command Structure
Incident Command Structure (ICS) for PIT observational/ hard count
Surface teams• 9 staging areas – Houston/Harris Co/Ft. Bend
Co/Baytown• 29 study areas subdivided• 80 teams• Each car had:
• Driver• Navigator• Homeless or formerly homeless person• Recorder
• GPS application to record geo-coordinates &
zip code mapping
Outreach specialists16 teams made up of service providersSub-population specialistsUtilized Corps members and peer interviewsOff surface surveillance (encampments, under
bridges, etc) Interviews and engagement
SWAT Teams
Experienced Health Workers familiar with area
Teams in the “bullpen” at ICS Headquarters
Team captains could request their help, if needed
Assured all areas were covered
Plant and Capture
Method of determining undercountHomeless or formerly homeless veterans sent
out as “plants” for duration of countDistinguishing item given – blinker; glow in the
dark hatAssigned to areas based on prevalence of
homelessness in that areaEnumeration teams recorded when they
observed a plant (“capture”)Good in theory; still working out kinks in
practice
2,600 square miles of Houston Harris County/Fort Bend County
Shelter Count and HMIS dataHousing inventory countUtilize expanded CoC including faith based
programsSelf report HIC plus HMIS cross referenceCollect data on multiple nightsSubpopulation data acquiredSite visitConfirmation
Subpopulation data
HUD mandates enumeration of veterans, chronically homeless, and chronically
homeless families (sheltered and street) HIV +, domestic violence, severe mental illness,
chronic substance abuse, unaccompanied children (shelter only)
Sheltered HMIS
Street count Specialized outreach teams Next day surveys
Day shelters Food service providers
http://www.homelesshouston.org/hh/Community_Resources.asp
(PIT executive summary and needs assessment documents can be found here)
Or contact :
Catherine Troisi, Ph.D. University of Texas School of Public Health
1200 Herman Pressler Dr, Ste 909Houston, Texas 77030
(713) 500-9164catherine.l.troisi@uth.tmc.edu
More Information