MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The annual Bartlett House Point in Time count, an effort to determine Monongalia County’s homeless population, gets underway later this month.
Bartlett Housing Solutions has been helping to combat the issue of homelessness through various means, which includes the count. The count provides unique information to those trying to combat homelessness around Monongalia County.
“So it’s really an important part because this count really determines funding that we receive from the federal government to really support the programs and initiatives that we as Bartlett Housing Solutions — but also other agencies — in the West Virginia Division of Homelessness has, to really provide those services for those individuals in our community,” said the assistant director.
Representatives from Bartlett House are expected to cover all 366 square miles of Monogalia County, seeking out homeless residents who will volunteer information. Along with gathering exact data regarding the amount of people who are suffering from homelessness, the Point in Time count also gives the group an idea of which demographics are affected by homelessness.
“Unfortunately, individuals who, you know, maybe working just a minimum wage job or, you know, low paying job, doesn’t have the amount of money to rent in Mon County,” Boyd said. “So that’s what, you know, the problem really comes in to, vets especially.”
Boyd said West Virginia has some of the highest percentages of veteran homelessness per capita in the nation. According to last year’s count, which only included people who were willing to talk to volunteers, 67 people were considered homeless in Monongalia County. Of those 67 people, 37 of them were in Bartlett Housing’s emergency shelters, 19 were in transitional housing and 11 were not sheltered. Four families were also in emergency shelter’s while three were in transitional housing.
“These numbers though are going down,” Boyd said. “That’s the awesome impact that, not only Bartlett Housing Solutions, but other agencies are having on our community.”
As the Monongalia County region recovers from record breaking cold temperatures and with winter weather expected to continue, Bartlett Housing Solutions is expected to take as many people as possible and work to lead them to self sufficiency.
“We provide three meals a day, they have intensive case management to where they can really work on getting that job if they need Boyd said. ” Working on mental health, if they need that to get them prepared then to go out and be self-sufficient.”
The “Point in Time Count” begins Jan. 24.