PIT Count 2021: Unsheltered Count Canceled; Sheltered Count as Normal

Overview

The Louisiana Balance of State Continuum of Care (LA BOSCOC) has requested and been granted an exemption from all unsheltered Point-in-Time (PIT) Count activities for January 2021.

The LA BOSCOC will not conduct an unsheltered count in January 2021 or collect/release any of the associated data about people experiencing unsheltered homelessness.

The LA BOSCOC will conduct and release data about the January 2021 sheltered PIT Count as usual.

Background

The PIT Count is a single night census of people experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires Continuums of Care (CoCs) to conduct the PIT Count on an annual basis in late January.

Historically, the LA BOSCOC has been a strong participant in and proponent of the PIT Count; every year, the LA BOSCOC’s data quality, estimated percentage of people counted, total paid staff participants, and total volunteer participants has increased. (You can find data from the LA BOSCOC’s 2018, 2019, and 2020 PIT Counts here: https://laboscoc.org/data)

On November 16, 2020, HUD released its “2021 HIC and PIT Count Updates for CoCs” mailing, which allows CoCs to request exceptions from unsheltered PIT Count requirements for January 2021.

CoC staff met with more than two dozen critical PIT Count stakeholders and with the LA BOSCOC Board to determine how the LA BOSCOC should engage the January 2021 PIT Count, and the response was unanimous: due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing challenges presented by the most active and second-deadliest storm season on record, the LA BOSCOC should not conduct an unsheltered PIT Count.

On November 30, 2020, CoC staff submitted the LA BOSCOC’s request to HUD for a complete exemption from the January 2021 unsheltered PIT Count.

On November 30, 2020, HUD staff responded and granted the LA BOSCOC’s exemption request.

Questions?

Please submit any questions about the January 2021 PIT Count to Gordon Levine, Continuum of Care Manager, at glevine@lhc.la.gov.

Released: January 2020 (FY 2019) Point in Time Count Data

Overview

Purpose

The Louisiana Balance of State Continuum of Care (LA BOSCOC) has released the results from January 2020 (FY 2019) Point in Time (PIT) Count.

The PIT Count is a CoC-wide census of people experiencing homelessness; the goal of the PIT Count is to determine, on a single night in January, how many people are experiencing homelessness in the CoC. The PIT Count covers all five of the LA BOSCOC’S Regions to the extent possible given local geography and homeless service provider capacity.

Outcomes

Sheltered homelessness increased 24%, from 376 to 465 people. This increase was primarily the result of Baton Rouge’s largest emergency shelter significantly increasing its total bed capacity and increased participation in the PIT Count by previously non-participating emergency shelters and transitional housing projects.

Unsheltered homelessness increased 30%, from 217 to 283 people. This increase could be attributed to several interconnected factors, most significantly that the LA BOSCOC switched from paper surveys to an app based counting methodology, which eliminated an annual data loss of up to 20%. In addition, Baton Rouge saw a large increase in volunteers, which increased the total number of hotspots canvassed, and Lake Charles experienced a natural gas boom that priced many low-income families out of its housing market.

Overall homelessness increased by 26%, from 593 to 748 people.

Methodology

On the night of January 27, 2020, the following activities were conducted:

• An unsheltered count of known and likely locations where people experiencing homelessness could be found; this was performed by both volunteers and paid homeless services staff;

• A sheltered count of participating emergency shelters and transitional housing projects.

In addition, for the week after January 27, supplemental surveys were conducted with people experiencing homelessness who accessed services through emergency shelters, drop-in centers, and other resource centers to determine where they were living on the night of January 2017.

While FY 2019 saw the LA BOSCOC’s first increase in overall homelessness in its history, and while that reflects general trends in unsheltered homelessness both statewide and nationally, it is also the result of the LA BOSCOC’s most accurate and comprehensive PIT Count to date due to significant improvements in survey technology and a record number of volunteers of the January 27 unsheltered count.

Accessing the document

Click here to view the January 2020 (FY 2019) PIT Count data.

Point in Time (PIT) Count Training: Houma

Overview

The LA BOSCOC is hosting a free training for Point in Time (PIT) Count volunteers. The training will cover safety, best practices, and using the Counting Us app.

All PIT Count volunteers are strongly encouraged to attend.

You do not need to register to attend this training.

Date, time, location

• Date: January 16, 2020

• Time: noon to 2 PM

• Location: The First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall @ 6109 Highway 311 Houma, LA

What should I bring?

Attendees should plan to bring the mobile device (phone, tablet, etc.) they intend to use with the Counting Us app; a portion of the training will be devoted to getting your device ready for the count.

Register to volunteer for the PIT Count

For more information about the PIT Count and to register to volunteer, visit https://laboscoc.pointintime.info/

Point in Time (PIT) Count Training: Lake Charles

Overview

The LA BOSCOC is hosting a free training for Point in Time (PIT) Count volunteers. The training will cover safety, best practices, and using the Counting Us app.

All PIT Count volunteers are strongly encouraged to attend.

You do not need to register to attend this training.

Date, time, location

• Date: January 22, 2020

• Time: 9 AM to 10 AM (this time was corrected on January 21, 2020 to reflect the actual start time)

• Location: The Allen P. August Annex @ 2000 Moeling Street Lake Charles, LA

What should I bring?

Attendees should plan to bring the mobile device (phone, tablet, etc.) they intend to use with the Counting Us app; a portion of the training will be devoted to getting your device ready for the count.

Register to volunteer for the PIT Count

For more information about the PIT Count and to register to volunteer, visit https://laboscoc.pointintime.info/

Point in Time (PIT) Count Training: Baton Rouge

Overview

The LA BOSCOC is hosting a free training for Point in Time (PIT) Count volunteers. The training will cover safety, best practices, and using the Counting Us app.

All PIT Count volunteers are strongly encouraged to attend.

You do not need to register to attend this training.

Date, time, location

• Date: January 23, 2020

• Time: 1 PM to 3 PM

• Location: The Louisiana Housing Corporation @ 2415 Quail Drive Baton Rouge, LA — Board Room

What should I bring?

Attendees should plan to bring the mobile device (phone, tablet, etc.) they intend to use with the Counting Us app; a portion of the training will be devoted to getting your device ready for the count.

Register to volunteer for the PIT Count

For more information about the PIT Count and to register to volunteer, visit https://laboscoc.pointintime.info/

LA BOSCOC Board Outcomes - April 1, 2019

Overview

The Board met in person to discuss a variety of issues on April 1, 2019.

Attendance

VOTING ATTENDANCE [LISTED AS NAME, ORGANIZATION (SEAT) (ROLE, IF ANY)]

• Winona Connor, Louisiana Housing Corporation (Louisiana Housing Corporation) (Chair)

• Eric Gammons, Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless (HMIS Lead)

• Antiqua Hunter, Louisiana Department of Education (Louisiana Department of Education)

• Addie Duval, Start Corporation (Baton Rouge Region)

• Brooke Guidry, Start Corporation (Houma Region)

• Tarek Polite, Calcasieu Parish Police Jury (Lake Charles Region)

• Gail Gowland, St. Bernard Battered Women’s Program (Plaquemines/St. Bernard Region)

NON-VOTING ATTENDANCE (LISTED AS NAME, ORGANIZATION, (ROLE, IF ANY)]

• Aundrea Braniff, Louisiana Housing Corporation (Acting Secretary)

• Gordon Levine, Louisiana Housing Corporation (Continuum of Care Manager)

• More than a dozen members of the CoC sat in on the meeting; roll was not taken

PIT Count

The CoC Manager provided an overview of the Point in Time (PIT) Count, both the January 2019 count and the LA BOSCOC’s PIT Count in general.

Strengths highlighted included:

• Baton Rouge’s count is improving its methodology every year;

• Lake Charles implemented an innovative single night shelter option to collected sheltered data;

• Starting next year, each Region will have a CoC Program-funded Coordinated Entry Access Point to help develop the PIT Count capacity.

Vulnerabilities highlighted included:

• Natchitoches/Sabine continues to conduct no count;

• Plaquemines/St. Bernard continues to conduct no unsheltered count;

• Lake Charles needs to conduct a more comprehensive unsheltered count;

• No Region is conducting an effective rural count;

• Planning needs to start earlier (September/October rather than December/January) to build capacity;

• Baton Rouge count needs to identify a new PIT Captain for January 2020, as the previous PIT Captain (Joe Keegan) is retiring).

Coordinated Entry

The CoC Manager provided an overview of the Coordinated Entry System (CES) after its first 12 months of operation.

The key finding is that while the CES is ensuring the CoC is serving people in order of their level of need, the CoC’s ratio of referrals to successful intakes is very low (approximately 10%). This is primarily due to poor or incomplete contact information collected by Coordinated Entry Access Points and outreach workers, particularly regarding people experiencing chronic homelessness.

As a remedy, the Board unanimously authorized funding from the FY 2019 CoC Program NOFA for a Coordinated Entry Navigator, whose job will be to (1) establish and record the required documentation for people experiencing homelessness who are high on the LA BOSCOC’s Prioritization List and (2) ensuring contact information is correct and current. The authorized funding is up to $80,000 and will be drawn from the Baton Rouge Region’s annual allocation.

Scoring Committee

Historically, the LA BOSCOC’s project applications to the CoC Program NOFA have been scored by members of the Governor’s Council on Homelessness using exclusively information present in those project applications.

The Board voted unanimously to include a mechanism in the LA BOSCOC’s project application scoring process by which Scoring Committee members could ask clarifying questions of the project application’s organization and adjust the project’s score as appropriate.

Board Meeting Frequency

The Board voted unanimously to meet on a bimonthly basis. (Previously, the Board was convened approximately quarterly on an ad hoc basis and in response to specific needs.)

Next Board Meeting

The next Board meeting will be held in person in Baton Rouge with a dial-in option. Some portion of the Board meeting will be open to the public. The Board has not yet set a date for this meeting; however, it will be scheduled for early June.