Annual homeless count approaching

CASPER, Wyo. — On Jan. 23, community partners and volunteers will work to get an accurate count and demographic breakdown of Natrona County’s homeless population with the annual Point in Time Count.

The PIT Count is designed to identify and connect with the unsheltered and unstably housed members of the community. To conduct the count, teams will take to the streets, visiting places in the community that are frequented by the homeless population. They will ask people if they’re homeless and ask them to fill out a short survey.

“It’s all completely voluntary. We never make it sound like anyone needs to answer our questions,” Community Action Partnership of Natrona County Executive Director Kelly Wessels said. “What I’ve found is that, once we explain what it is, most people are happy to take part.”

Homeless people will also be able to go to the Community Action Partnership office at 606 South David St. In addition to the surveys, they can receive food, resources and more.

Community Action Partnership is also accepting donations of winter wear to be distributed at the event. Wessels said people can drop off coats, gloves, winter socks and other items at the nonprofit’s David Street office.

Numerous community partner agencies throughout the county will also have surveys to give to those who utilize the services.

Information gathered in the count is useful for several reasons at local, statewide and federal levels, Wessels said.

“[The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] collects the data so that it can inform Congress on trends and discrepancies, [impacting] how federal dollars are allocated throughout the country,” Wessels said. “Locally, we use the data to spot trends and understand what steps we need to be taking.”

Wessels added that she makes note of survey respondents who say they aren’t homeless but soon will be. By taking note of unstably housed people too, Wessels said Community Action Partnership is able to prepare for the future instead of simply being reactive.

“If we see that there are a lot of people who are about to be homeless, it means something’s not working and I need to figure out what that is,” she said.

2024 PIT Count

Last year’s PIT Count revealed that there are more than 350 homeless people in the county, an increase of more than 40% from 2023’s count. However, Wessels said that this is the result of a change in methodology that took place in the first few years of the 2020s as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, not a sudden spike in the community’s homeless population.

Of the county’s reported homeless population, roughly a third are families.

“It usually is the case that singles are more likely to be homeless, but it’s usually a far bigger discrepancy,” Wessels said. “That’s a really high percentage [of homeless families]. … To be at 30% or more is really significant.”

Wessels noted that roughly 23% of the homeless population consists of older adults above the age of 55. Data also shows that roughly 28% suffer from behavioral health issues, 17% are disabled and 16% are homeless after reentry from incarceration.

“In addition to the increase in family homelessness, the number of disabled homeless is also creeping up,” Wessels told Oil City News. “The number of older adults is also notable; that’s a really unique group to work with.”

Wessels said numbers suggest that older adults constitute the fastest growing demographic of homeless people in the county. She added that many are reluctant to seek aid from community services because they are worried about losing their independence, they feel shame about being homeless or they have familial problems, among other contributing factors.

Wessels pointed to a number of needed initiatives and steps to reduce local homelessness, including housing-first initiatives, the construction of more low-income housing, a coordinated entry system and more.

“We all want people to be safe and healthy, and we want a vibrant community,” Wessels said. “I think if we start from that productive place, we can come up with some good solutions. But it’s a pressing issue. There are steps that can be taken to help someone get housed, but once you’re too many steps behind it can become really difficult.”