Annual homeless population count set to commence in Baker, Union, and Wallowa counties
By Joe Hathaway on Monday, January 8th, 2024 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
NORTHEAST OREGON — Every year, homeless service providers coordinate a physical headcount of the populations they serve.
It’s called the “Point In Time” (PIT) count and is required by the federal housing authority to help determine how much grant money each region will qualify for.
“It is like a census of the homeless population,” said Joe Hayes, County Manager of Community Connection of Baker County. “Basically the country is trying to get a snapshot of the number of homeless people.”
It takes place for providers nationwide over a couple of days toward the end of January. Last year’s PTI count showed 38 homeless people in Union County and 18 in Baker County. Wallowa County didn’t participate in 2023 due to a vacant manager position.
Community Connection is the provider of homelessness services in Baker, Grant, Union and Wallowa counties. To help try and get an accurate number of the local homeless population, Community Connection will be holding Houseless Resources fairs in each of the four counties near the end of the month. But even those fairs don’t always paint an accurate picture.
“It’s never totally accurate because not everyone wants help,” says Hayes. “I know a couple people in Baker who say they’re self-sufficient and don’t seem to want stable housing. That’s fine, it’s just whether it’s tolerated by the landowners or not.”
Hayes says his office does conduct patrols looking at areas such as parks to look for those who may seem houseless to not only help with the accuracy of the count, but to also offer help such as food and temporary shelter.
He says the situation for homeless and low-income people seeking help is hard, especially with trying to get into rental homes.
“We have some people doubling up in hotel rooms waiting for a rental agreement, but finding a place to rent is very difficult these days,” says Hayes. “Landlords have turned their homes into Airbnbs or vacation rentals, because Oregon laws have made it very difficult on property owners and their rights.”
Hayes says this year’s Houseless Resource Fair and PIT survey will be held in all four counties on January 24.
“We want people who need help to come get help, whether that’s information, food, sleeping bags, tents, things like that,” says Hayes. “We try to connect them with whatever they need, whether it’s behavioral health help, drug addiction or counseling.
