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Mecklenburg County will survey its homeless population this week

Kenneth Beck sits on a bench in First Ward Park in uptown.
Elvis Menayese
/
WFAE
County staff and over 200 volunteers are expected to fan out across Mecklenburg County on Thursday to survey residents experiencing homelessness.

County staff and over 200 volunteers are expected to fan out across Mecklenburg County on Thursday to survey residents experiencing homelessness.

The initiative is known as the Point-In-Time Count. Every year, community advocacy groups and volunteers identify and survey people experiencing homelessness, and ask them how they got there. The federally-mandated count helps determine how much federal money Mecklenburg County will get for homeless outreach and prevention projects.

Mary Ann Priester heads the county’s Point-In-Time Count. She says frigid temperatures over the next few days may have an impact this year.

“Outreach staff are already out in the community, trying to get people to come inside to use the overflow shelter resources and warming center resources we have available,” Priester said. "So, because it is extremely cold, we may see less people out there than we typically do.”

The number of people experiencing homelessness has been rising in Mecklenburg County. As of June 2024, 2,784 people were experiencing homelessness according to the Mecklenburg County State of Housing and Instability Report —an increase of 80 people from a year prior. Priester says surveyors will ask how people became homeless.

“We ask them questions about domestic violence, what services they need and couldn’t access, what prevented them from being able to access those services, what would make them more likely to use shelter,” Priester said.

Results from this year’s count are expected in the fall as part of the State of Housing and Instability and Homelessness report.

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Elvis Menayese is a Report for America corps member covering issues involving race and equity for WFAE. He previously was a member of the Queens University News Service. Major support for WFAE's Race & Equity Team comes from Novant Health.