Volunteers to hold count of homeless

Effort aids region’s services in determining major needs

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The number of people in Northwest Arkansas who are homeless has been on the rise since a biennial head count started in 2007, and certain indicators show the number may have grown the most in the past two years, said Kevin Fitzpatrick, a University of Arkansas professor who will lead a group of volunteers conducting this year’s count.

The updated count will be taken over a 24-hour period Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 in more than two dozen locations across Washington and Benton counties.

Hundreds of volunteers will make the rounds to service providers counting - and in most cases interviewing - the men, women and children who make up the region’s homeless population.

This comprehensive review, called the Northwest Arkansas Point-in-Time Homeless Census, showed there were 2,001 homeless people in the two-countyregion in 2011; 1,287 in 2009; and 1,170 in 2007.

“The nature of homelessness is a pretty dynamic social problem,” said Kevin Fitzpatrick, director of the Community and Family Institute at the University of Arkansas. “Homelessness in the 1940s isn’t homelessness in the 21st century.”

“The homeless population has changed considerably - not only the who, but their needs,” he said.

The purpose of the homeless census is not just to “go out counting heads” but to gain information that will help service providers - food pantries, community meals programs, medical clinics, shelters and the like - plan for the future.

Nancy Hairston, director of development for Youth Bridge Inc., said her organization uses the homeless census data when applying for state and federal grants. The group provides care to troubled teens.

“We use that information both with our corporate and our foundations, especiallywith the United Way [of Northwest Arkansas,]” she said. “They really want to know what’s happening and not take our word for it.”

Fitzpatrick said the census helps service providers by giving them “critical information that helps not only refine their understanding of who they serve, but refines their understanding of what the needs of those folks are, and that’s important.”

Fitzpatrick reports some of the count’s findings to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for use in funding determinations for agencies that serve people meeting the federal government’s definition of homeless. The department requires the Point-in-Time count for regions all over the country.

But Fitzpatrick also develops an annual report he believes provides a more comprehensive snapshot of the homeless population because it includes children and adults with no permanent home, such as those moving from place to place, staying with friends and relatives.

Participants willing to be interviewed will be asked 20 or so questions about issues such as their family composition, employment and health. The query takes less than five minutes, because as Fitzpatrick said, “There are not people who just want to sit around and talk.”

About 98 percent agree to be interviewed, Fitzpatrick said. This year, organizers hope to learn more than in past years about prescription drug access, medicalcare, insurance and dental care.

Many will be documented where they assemble in large numbers, such as the lunchtime crowd at the ThursdayCommunity Meals program Central United Methodist Church in Fayetteville and at the 7 Hills Homeless Center in Fayetteville, where a big lunch is served on Fridays. Police in various cities will assist volunteers in counting the homeless in other areas where they congregate.

Fitzpatrick asked the public K-12 schools in the area’s four largest cities to provide preliminary numbers as a precursor to the count.

“If I went on just what I’m hearing from the schools ... those numbers are probably up 10 or 15 percent,” Fitzpatrick said. The largest increase was reported in the Bentonville School District, he said.

However, it’s uncertain whether those increases will translate to the adult population, he added.

Julie Bachmayer, social worker for the Bentonville schools, said by noon Monday, she had already hadthree referrals to investigate three children in the district who might have recently become homeless. Reports come from school counselors, social workers and principals.

It’s Bachmayer’s job to see what’s going on and help find assistance if it’s needed.

In one of Monday’s cases, a child mentioned to a school staff member that the student didn’t have a mattress on which to sleep.

“They were bunking with another family,” Bachmayer said. “They were on the living room floor.”

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 12/11/2012