ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A small army of volunteers fanned out across Pinellas County on Thursday, hoping to get an accurate count of the region's homeless population.
It’s part of an annual census called "Point in Time", the results of which will go a long way toward helping secure funding to address a growing need.
“Yeah - it just kind of really puts you down a little bit,” Myles Fischer, who was answering questions from a volunteer, said. For people like Fisher, it’s hard not to get emotional when they think about it.
Fischer, who’s been homeless for four years now, says he often feels invisible.
“And then, out here you have to feed yourself. You have to constantly try to house yourself. I mean, it's hard,” he said.
But on this day, Fischer and hundreds of others struggling with homelessness were absolutely being seen.
About 400 volunteers did the best they could to accurately estimate the area’s unhoused population.
“I got thanked by most of the people I interviewed or talked with because they saw me helping them. And so, they were appreciative of the help that we're giving them,” volunteer Stacey Jones said.
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The idea behind "Point in Time" is to make sure Pinellas County gets as much federal funding as it can to help support its growing homeless population.
According to HUD, the region is first in the nation for an area its size when it comes to veteran homelessness, second when it comes to families, and fifth overall.
“The data that our volunteers are collecting today it helps improve the overall health of our entire community. It helps secure funding, it helps secure information, and it helps us learn from our neighbors in need in a really critical way,” Victoria Kelley with the Homeless Leadership Alliance said.
Pinellas County, like other parts of the state, has been hard hit by inflation.
They won't know until the count is over, but there are indications the number of people struggling to keep a roof over their heads is growing.
“We are seeing more people who need basic assistance, not just homeless assistance, basic assistance. And are at risk of homelessness,” Kelly said.
This effort is taking place around the nation. Central Florida did its count last week. Pinellas County held its count today. Hillsborough County will do its count in the next couple of weeks.
Last year, nationwide, HUD figures showed about 650,000 people were considered homeless, a 12% increase over the previous year.
“They need to have a count of the homeless people in the area so they can, of course, get the amount of food so, yeah, I think it's a big deal,” Fischer said.
“Without this event, we don't know that they are there,” Kelly added. “And we can't take care of people that we don't know are there.”