Hastings County Community and Human Services Department Completing County-Wide 2021 Homelessness Enumeration

Categories: General

Posted On: November 5, 2021

News

Belleville, ON – Hastings County Community & Human Services is undertaking provincially mandated enumeration and creation of a By-Name List (BNL) of individuals experiencing homelessness across the entirety of Hastings County. This work is scheduled to take place during the week of November 15, 2021, and will be conducted by Hastings County staff, community agencies, and volunteers. For more information or to offer your services as a volunteer, please contact communityresponse@hastingscounty.com.

Quote

“The Enumeration Exercise is going to help to better understand the level of homelessness that exists in our communities and provide valuable data to assist us in developing strategies to provide supports and address the needs of the chronically homeless,” stated Warden Rick Phillips. “Hastings County supports a Housing First philosophy and understands that success will be gained through proper services and supports to the individual and a coordination between these services are keys to success.”

Background

Enumeration is the measurement of the number of people experiencing homelessness over a specific period of time. A Point-in-Time (PiT) Count is a one-day snapshot of homelessness in each community that contributes to a national picture and advances knowledge on homelessness.

The survey is used to collect basic demographic information for people experiencing homelessness, as well as reasons for homelessness and service use and/or needs.

Further, all service managers are expected to have a BNL (By-Name List) in place by December 31, 2021. A BNL is a real-time list of all people experiencing homelessness in your community.

The PiT count, survey, and creation of the BNL will allow linkages to services in Hastings County.

Information and training sessions were conducted by Hastings County staff to community stakeholders, homeless serving agencies and the Hastings County Staff in mid-October.

A detailed report will be presented to the Community & Human Services Committee and County Council in early 2022.

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