BEDS to Help Lead Regional Point in Time (PIT) Count
of People Experiencing Homelessness
How can I help?
The Alliance to End Homeless in Suburban Cook County still needs help with the PIT "Point In Time" Homeless Persons Count taking place on Wednesday, February 9.
What is the annual Point in Time (PIT) count?
Counting people experiencing homelessness is difficult. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) describes how, "it it extremely difficult to county people living in cars, abandoned buildings, and other deserted places, and some of the homeless population may not wish to be found." Other people experiencing homelessness may “couch surf” with family or friends—temporarily moving between others’ residences where they may not use homeless services. Every year, government, nonprofit, and media outlets reference a grand total of people experiencing homelessness (in 2020, for example, the figure that appeared was "roughly 580,000”).
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) mandates PIT counts to inform policymaking and allocate funding to Continuums of Care*, regional bodies that coordinate homeless services. Each Continuum holds counts in their respective communities, which gives their member organizations chances to connect with people experiencing homelessness. The people found during PIT counts are often outside of agencies’ reach during the day and not receiving any services.
Dispatchers at each site will direct teams to community “hot spots” where people experiencing homelessness usually spend nights including parks, emergency rooms, forest preserves, parking garage stairwells, abandoned buildings, and cars parked outside 24-hour businesses. When teams meet people living outside, members with lived experience respectfully approach them.
What is BEDS role?
Manager of Supportive Housing Jennifer Tudor is acting as the PIT Regional Coordinator of the Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County’s West Council. Our Ogden Avenue Supportive Housing (OASH) facility will serve as a primary staging area for the count.
This year’s PIT is crucial since the Suburban Cook County Continuum of Care did not hold one last year due to COVID-19.
*BEDS is part of the Suburban Cook County Continuum of Care; other Illinois Continuums encompass Chicago, Decatur, Dekalb, Evanston, Joliet/Will County, the Peoria area, Rockford/Winnebago County/Boone County, Urbana/Champaign, Lake County, Du Page County, Kane County, Madison Country, McHenry County, and St. Clair County, as well as the State’s Heartland, Central, West Central, South Central, Southern, and Northwestern regions.
