On Jan. 23 and 24, the Blue Ridge Interagency Advisory Council on Homelessness (BRICH) will conduct the annual point-in-time (PIT) count. The point-in-time count is a statistically reliable, unduplicated count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals and families in the area served by the BRICH. This survey is conducted by all jurisdictions in the Commonwealth of Virginia to provide both baseline data on the number of homeless individuals living in communities and basic demographic information about the homeless population.
Data collected during the PIT count is critical to effective planning and performance management toward the goal of ending homelessness for each community and for the nation as a whole. Counting those who are unsheltered ensures that many of the people with the highest needs are taken into account in community planning. This allows effective use of limited resources and ease of making referrals to appropriate services.
As in the past, the survey will collect basic information as well as identify the most medically at-risk people experiencing homelessness by compiling information using a tool called the “Vulnerability Index.” The Jefferson College of Health Science Physician Assistant students will continue to survey the unsheltered homeless using the “Vulnerability Index.”
The results of the survey will be available to the community on or before April 15. For more information, please contact Paula Prince, Chair of the Blue Ridge Interagency Advisory Council on Homelessness, at 540-985-8380 or [email protected].
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