The success of your PiT Count will rely on your ability to locate the individuals that are experiencing homelessness in your community. With youth, this task can be especially difficult. Youth, particularly those involved with child protection or foster care, often employ strategies to stay hidden from sector workers and law enforcement. For full guidelines on the PiT Count methodology refer to the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness Toolkit: Who to Count and the HPS Guide to Point-in-Time Counts in Canada.
Street Survey |
Communities participating in the 2016 HPS Coordinated Count are required to enumerate unsheltered homelessness, via a street survey. As you map your count, consult with youth outreach workers and services to identify ‘hot spots’ where youth congregate. Your Youth Advisory Board will be an important source of information on the whereabouts of youth. On the night of the count, consider pairing youth with a team of outreach workers, to visit any encampments or sleeping locations outside your core map zones. This will be particularly relevant in more rural communities. |
Sheltered Survey |
The HPS Guide to PiT Counts in Canada encourages PiT Count Coordinators to build close partnerships with emergency shelter providers. As you build an inventory of shelter beds and transitional housing units in your community, be sure to include youth facilities. At minimum, youth-housing providers will indicate the number of youth that stayed at the facility on the night of the count. Ideally, shelters and transitional housing providers will work with you to administer the PiT Count Survey to youth. Provide shelters and housing providers with youth-targeted posters, flyers and pamphlets to disseminate to youth. Helping youth to understand the purpose of the PiT Count may encourage greater participation. Building buy-in: Consider holding an information session for front-line workers. Explain the purpose and the objectives of the PiT Count. Demonstrate your understanding of youth homelessness and reiterate the importance of their cooperation. Allow staff to ask questions. Front-line workers can relay information about the PIT Count to youth, respond to any concerns and encourage participation. |
Youth Services |
As noted in the previous section, Methodology: Who to Count, you will need to consider whether to include hidden homelessness – including couch surfing – in your PiT Count. Communities that are pursuing survey data on couch surfing should strongly consider service-based enumeration. Service-based counts occur on the night of the count, or the day following, at non-residential locations. For example: health clinics, libraries, food banks, youth employment programs, drop-in centres, LGBTQ2 services and Aboriginal youth organizations. Here, you may encounter youth that may otherwise be missed through the street and sheltered surveys. Worth noting: Surveying youth in non-residential services will provide you with additional data on the experience of youth homelessness, a valuable asset. However, conducting a service-based count will not provide you with the number of youth experiencing hidden homelessness. Ensure that this message is clear throughout the planning, implementation and reporting stages of your count. |
Magnet Events |
Service-based enumeration requires additional planning and resources; this approach may not be feasible in every community. You may consider holding a youth magnet event instead of, or in addition to, a service-based count. Magnet events occur at youth-serving agencies, often during the night of the count or a few hours prior. The magnet events feature food, activities, giveaways, resources and information about youth services. At the magnet event, all youth are given the option to participate in the PiT Count survey; though their participation in the magnet event is not contingent on such. Ideally, the magnet event will attract youth that are not otherwise connected to a service on the night of the count. To achieve this, the magnet event needs to be widely publicized through social media, youth networks and word of mouth. Resource: In 2013, a number of US Cities piloted youth magnet events. For information on these experiences, refer to Youth Count! Process Study. |
Public Systems |
Communities participating in the 2016 HPS Coordinated Count are not required to include public systems - such as hospitals, jails and detention centers – in their count. However, some communities, particularly those that have previously conducted counts, may have pre-existing relationships with public systems; thereby, making it easy to implement a public systems count. If you are considering a public systems count, consider partnering with youth facilities such as youth detox centres and juvenile detention. If this is not feasible in 2016, consider building relationships now, for future counts. Worth noting: In the US, some communities have successfully partnered with School Boards to support and implement youth PiT Counts. Only in exceptional cases will communities have the time and resources to build partnerships with schools for the 2016 HPS Coordinated Count. Communities that are interested in working with schools in future counts should begin to build relationships as soon as possible. As a first-step, encourage school staff and leadership to volunteer for the count. Familiarity with PiT Count methods may improve future cooperation. |