Every two years, communities across the country conduct comprehensive counts of people experiencing homelessness to better understand the need for services. This Friday is the last day to sign up as a volunteer for San Luis Obispo County's count.
The 2024 San Luis Obispo County Point In Time count takes place on Tuesday, January 23, and starts as early as 7:30 a.m.
“We need at least 20 more volunteers in the Paso Robles and San Miguel area," said Kari Howell, Homeless Management and Information System Program Manager for San Luis Obispo County. "Multilingual and bilingual volunteers are welcome. We need more volunteers in the coastal area, so out of our Morro Bay Logistics Center and we're looking for more volunteers in South County, so in Arroyo Grande and Nipomo.”
Training is free and offered in person this week. Virtual training is scheduled on Saturday, Jan. 13., making Friday the last day to sign up.
“Volunteers will go out in groups and in teams to conduct the survey, and each volunteer group will be assigned a guide," Howell said. "So a guide is someone with current or former experience with unsheltered homelessness, or they may be a current outreach worker as well."
“You're going out and just interviewing, doing a short snapshot on your phone of just gathering that data and moving on, going from person to person, really trying to capture that day-of picture of what's going on with homelessness in our community," explained Austin Solheim, ECHO Director of Operations and Development.
Solheim says the more volunteers they have, the more accurate and widespread the count will be.
“We take that number and we really paint the picture around that," he said. "How many beds does ECHO have? Is that really serving the need in our community in North County, in the cities where we are? Are we effectively providing services to the individuals that are experiencing homelessness in our community?"
Howell says she’s found in her work with homelessness response and prevention that the problem lies in people's situations rather than poor decision-making.
"I do think there's a subtle, humble power in observing homelessness because it means we're not experiencing it for ourselves," Howell said. "And so for community members who are compassionate and curious and want to do more, this is a really great opportunity to get involved."
A two-hour training offered in-person will take place in San Luis Obispo on Tuesday from 3 to 5 p.m. and Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. this week for those already signed up.
To volunteer or learn more about the Point-in-Time Count, click here.
