Modesto-area homeless count seeks 250 volunteers for countywide effort
The organizers of the annual tally of homeless men, women and children throughout Stanislaus County and its nine cities need 250 volunteers to help with this year’s count, which will be held Jan. 25.
These counts are held in communities nationwide in late January. The Department of Housing and Urban Development requires them as part of allocating funding to address homelessness.
The Stanislaus Community System of Care, composed of local governments, service providers and other organizations, conducts the local counts.
HUD calls these efforts point-in-time counts because they provide a snapshot of homelessness and do not represent a definitive count of a community’s homeless population.
The results of the counts can be affected by such factors as the number of volunteers, how well the counts are organized, whether law enforcement has conducted recent sweeps of homeless encampments, and even the weather.
Last year’s PIT count tallied 2,091 homeless people in Stanislaus County, with the vast majority of them in Modesto. The counts includes people in shelters as well as those living outdoors.
HUD reported last week that the 2023 PIT counts conducted nationwide tallied more than 650,000 people, an increase of 12% from the 2022 PIT counts.
Volunteers will work with the Stanislaus County Homeless Outreach and Engagement Team in the count and will receive training. Volunteers will ask people who are homeless to complete surveys and will give them care packages. The survey results help service providers focus their efforts.
Go to stanislaus24.pointintime.info to register. You’ll be asked to pick a training session and city where you’d like to volunteer. You can also volunteer by calling 209-558-2961 or emailing csoc@stancounty.com. Jan. 7 is the registration deadline.
This story was originally published December 19, 2023 at 9:40 AM.
