Roughly 100 volunteers hit the streets Wednesday night to help City of Boise and Ada County leaders tally how many people are experiencing homelessness.
Each January, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires the Point-In-Time Count of individuals who are experiencing homelessness. The count helps HUD assess the progress being made toward ending homelessness nationally and it informs their appropriation requests to members of the Congress.
Locally, the count helps understand the extent of homelessness in the community and determines which resources are most needed to address it.
The count was coordinated by the Boise City/Ada County Continuum of Care, which is administered by the City of Boise on behalf of all of Ada County and other municipalities.
The Continuum of Care is responsible for the community plan to organize and deliver housing and services to meet the specific needs of people who are experiencing homelessness as they move to stable housing and maximum self-sufficiency.
"It is important to establish that baseline, understand the scope of the problem in our community," says Mike Journee, City of Boise spokesman. "We do this on an annual basis. So, we have a running count."
The results will be published in the spring.
The City of Boise administers about $4.5 million in federal and local funding on behalf of the Continuum of Care.
