 photo courtesy of Rex Hohlbein
As the Continuum of Care lead, All Home is responsible for
carrying out the Annual Point In Time Count, including both a sheltered and
unsheltered count and survey of people experiencing homelessness in King
County. While the count’s core purpose is to collect data on the needs of
people experiencing homelessness, the count also provides an excellent
opportunity to increase awareness of homelessness and to spark action. A
successful and accurate PIT Count is an essential component to informing our
system response to the need in our community and to ultimately making
homelessness rare, brief and one-time.
We are swiftly approaching the 2017 Point in Time (PIT)
Count, scheduled for January 27, 2016, and planning is well underway. This
summer, All Home released a Request for Proposals for an organization to carry
out the count, and articulated the following goals:
- generating valid,
accurate data regarding families and individuals experiencing homelessness,
- establishing estimates
that accurately reflect the homeless population for the entire geographic area
of the Continuum of Care (CoC),
- retaining and
improving funding for homeless services and meeting federal data reporting
requirements,
- increasing
community support and awareness of the scope and scale of homelessness in King
County, and
- linking data
collection efforts with CoC strategic, program and policy planning.
In October, the All Home Coordinating Board determined that
this year’s count would be conducted via a partnership between All Home and two
entities: the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness (SKCCH), which has
conducted the count for over thirty years, and Applied Survey Research, which
has conducted dozens of counts in California over the past two decades.
However, SKCCH notified All Home on Monday that it will not participate in
count efforts this coming year.
The 2017 count will now be fully conducted by Applied
Survey Research, a national non-profit research firm, in collaboration with
All Home. In addition to its experience working in California, ASR has
experience in Seattle/King County, conducting a needs assessment of unsheltered
homeless in Seattle, and a count of homeless youth/young adults as part of a
national effort called Voice of Youth Count, both in the past year.
There will be a few key changes to this coming year’s PIT
count:
- Count teams will
include volunteers as well as PIT Guides. Guides are paid positions
($15/hr) for homeless or formerly homeless individuals with lived experience in
or near their count area.
- The unsheltered
street count will shift from a “known area” count to a 100% canvas of every
census tract in the county
- Improved data
collection tools will be introduced for more efficient and simplified tallying
and survey data collection
- More
comprehensive sample-based survey efforts including both shelter/service sites
as well as non-service locations
While SKCCH will not be leading the 2017 PIT Count, All Home
commends the tremendous efforts they have led for over a decade of conducting
the One Night Count. All Home is committed to conducting the count in
strong collaboration with the community and with a dedication to an accurate,
safe, and respectful process. In the coming days, we will be forming a Steering
Committee to guide the work and ensure a strong and actionable 2017 Point in
Time Count. Information and reports from past PIT counts are available on the All Home website and additional
information pertaining to the 2017 Point in Time Count will be posted soon. For
additional questions about the PIT count, please contact allhome@allhomekc.org.
Housing First is a
proven approach in which people experiencing homelessness are provided with
permanent housing directly without conditions or prerequisites. It is
based on overwhelming evidence that all people and families experiencing
homelessness can achieve stability in permanent housing, regardless of their
service needs or challenges. Housing First is an approach that can be adopted
by all housing programs across the housing crisis response system.
This training is intended to answer the following questions:
- What
does it mean to be a Housing First system?
- Why
is Housing First an important response to trauma and racial equity?
- How
can Housing First principles and approaches be incorporated in different
program models?
-
What
can [I, my organization, my program] do to incorporate Housing First principles
in my work?
Take a moment to read:
Four Clarifications about Housing First before the training: https://www.usich.gov/news/four-clarifications-about-housing-first
When: December 13th
| 9:00am – 3:00pm | South Seattle
Community College – Georgetown Campus
Who should attend? Leadership and key staff of
homeless housing organizations, local funding partners and other community
stakeholders interested in learning more
Please RSVP by December 6th: https://housingfirstsystem.eventbrite.com
The City of Seattle’s Human Services Department
is currently in search of a dynamic leaders to fill the following positions:
Division Director of Aging
& Disability Services
This position will be
responsible for leading planning, grant-making and direct services with the goal
that every older adult experiences stable health and has the chance to age in
place. Additionally, work on Accountable Communities of Health and other activities related to healthcare
reform will be critical elements of this position. To apply, click here.
Division Director of Homeless
Services & Investments
This position will be
responsible for leading planning, grant-making and direct services with the goal
that every person in Seattle is sheltered. To apply, click here.
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Compass Housing Alliance
is currently seeking the following positions:
Valley Cities Counseling & Consultation is
seeking a full-time Mental Health Outreach Specialist. This position requires
knowledge, experience and skills in a variety of combined subject areas including
mental health treatment practices, family dynamics, the impacts of homelessness
on children and families, domestic violence, and the impacts of mental health
and chemical dependency on an individual’s and family’s health and well-being.
This position provides wide-ranging, interdisciplinary behavioral health
services to homeless individuals and families; focus is in the area of mental
health, with prominent cross-disciplinary collaboration with team members and
external providers. All services are provided on an outreach basis. For more
information and to apply, visit: www.valleycities.org.
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