Why some local experts say COVID-19 could mean a more accurate count of area’s homeless
In years past, the last week of January meant swarms of volunteers gathering to interview and count the area’s homeless population. The continued spread of the coronavirus was a roadblock to the typical method, but some Horry County experts say that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
The annual point-in-time count is mandated by the federal government through the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and usually involves strict measures, lots of manpower and face time with many people. This year, the department allowed certain alterations as the nation continues to wrestle with the spread of COVID-19.
Changes could bring better understanding of homelessness
In Horry County, instead of sending several volunteers into the community, only three paid staff members at the Eastern Carolina Housing Organization (ECHO) will conduct the count of unsheltered homeless people in all 13 counties ECHO’s continuum of care. The count is generally based solely on interactions and interviews with people who are homeless in the area, but this year, ECHO will cross reference its existing databases to reach a more accurate count, according to director of community data solutions Julie Meaney.
“Essentially people have contacted us, people have reached out because they need services and therefore we’ll be able to represent those people in a way that is typically under-represented,” Meaney said.
Stephanie Southworth, a professor at Coastal Carolina University who ran the count in 2017 and 2018, said it’s far from perfect. With the coronavirus disrupting the typical method, she said there’s an opportunity to evaluate better options.
The point-in-time count relies on the willingness of people to give their social security number and other identifiable information, which many people are wary of, Southworth said.
“If somebody came up and asked me for my social security number, I don’t care what they’re doing, I’m not going to give it to them,” she said. “They’re just people, they’re like everybody else, they’re not stupid. They’re not going to just give out their social security number.”
The definitions of key words under the point-in-time count are also strict, meaning if someone slept in a hotel or on a friend’s couch the night of the count, they wouldn’t technically be counted as unsheltered, even if the next night they would be left without a place to sleep. Southworth said these issues with the point-in-time count have caused a severe undercounting of the homeless population and misunderstanding of the reality of the situation.
Is county’s homeless population bigger than reported?
Horry County by far has the highest unsheltered homeless population in the state with at least 400 more than the next-highest county, according to the South Carolina Interagency Council on Homelessness. Funding, resources and general awareness toward homelessness in the area rely on the point-in-time count, but it’s nearly impossible to reach a 100% accurate number.
“Certainly a more accurate count is a more accurate understanding of the scope of the problem,” Meaney said. “We’re able to make better decisions about what kinds of programs or services that might need to exist that don’t already based on unreal numbers.
Last year, Horry County reported 589 unsheltered homeless people with another 218 sheltered, but Southworth estimates that number is much higher. She said there are likely more than 1,000 homeless people across the county. She also said a potential drawback to a more accurate count is the appearance of a big increase in the homeless population, when in reality a more accurate count would just mean being able to count more of the people who were already there.
“It can be a frustrating exercise that we absolutely participate in and we do our part because we’re expected to, but the numbers that result from that typically don’t ever feel like a good representation of homelessness,” Meaney said.
With the alterations to the point-in-time count permitted by HUD, a specific question has been added to ECHO’s online intake form in order to potentially reach more people, Meaney said.
What does the point-in-time count mean for shelters?
At New Directions, a nonprofit that provides shelter and resources to the homeless community in Myrtle Beach, the point-in-time count is used as a guide to understand the magnitude of housing issues in the area, but executive director Kathy Jenkins relies more on the organization’s waiting lists because the shelter doesn’t have the bandwidth to shelter all the homeless people in the county.
“We know we can’t accommodate everybody who’s homeless in Horry County,” Jenkins said. “And could we ever, in the city of Myrtle Beach, accommodate 1,000 people who are homeless in all of Horry County? We could not. So it’s a guideline.”
