A “point in time” count of homeless people in Cochrane District goes this week.
It’s not quite accurate to call it a census, because it’s voluntary.
Natalie Hallok of the Cochrane District Services Board says several allied agencies are doing the work.
“October 10th from 8pm to 10pm and October 11th from 5am to 8am, “ she says, “we have outreach teams who will be going out into the communities across the district to count the number of individuals who are experiencing homelessness.”
That’s all followed by 30 days of other means of surveying the homeless.
Kaylee Morisette is the program manager of the “Everyone Counts” point-in-time survey.
“We will have a more thorough picture of homelessness than perhaps in the more rural parts of the district,” Morissette explains, “where it’s harder to get outreach folks out into nature trails, forests and looking for people that might be living rough out there.”
The data will be used to ensure that local moves towards ending homeless are on the right track, and go to the federal government for consideration when funding programs.
Listen to our interview about it right here.
