Homeless Count Saturday

by John Anderson

Early on Saturday morning, 600 volunteers will meet for the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition's 2018 Point in Time Count. ECHO relies on volunteer support to conduct their survey of people experiencing homelessness and document the resources they need to survive. Last year, teams counted 2,036 people living outside, in shelters or other havens, or in some type of transitional housing, and found a 28% reduction in the number of people reporting as chronically homeless, and an 84% decrease in adults reporting a substance use disorder, compared to the year before. Volunteers learned that a combination of economic factors, fractured support networks, inadequate access to supportive services, and exposure to the criminal justice system keep people from finding stable shelter. ECHO uses this data to draw strategies for achieving its overall mission of ending homelessness. Learn more at www.austinecho.org.