Schuylkill County’s Local Housing Options Team has finalized plans to count the homeless next week.
LHOT, which consists of representatives from various service agencies and nonprofits, had its final meeting Thursday morning at the United Presbyterian Church, Pottsville, before the fourth annual point-in-time count next week.
“There are a couple purposes for that night, but more than anything we want to help them get connected to our service organizations. Some people just don’t know where to go for help,” Gerald Achenbach, Service Access and Management Inc. housing director and LHOT chairman, said Thursday.
The county’s count of sheltered and unsheltered people will take place from Jan. 27 to 29 to find out where the homeless spent the night of Jan. 27.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development uses the annual count to estimate the number of people homeless in the country and identify any similar characteristics among the demographic. HUD provides various funding for homeless assistance services to counties who participate in the counts. The date for the count is set each year by the federal government.
LHOT members will be at 10 locations throughout the county where individuals can receive a free meal, clothing and other assistance and participate in an interview for the count. The Schuylkill County Welfare Office will also be used for the count and there will be two street teams looking for individuals outside.
In addition to a free meal, volunteers at the sites also offer grocery gift cards, canned food, donated clothing, hotel vouchers and other items.
Over the last two years, the team had counted an average of 35 homeless individuals in the county. Mostly new individuals are counted each year, Achenbach said.
Schuylkill Women in Crisis operates the only shelter in the county for victims of domestic and sexual violence. However, the county does not have a general shelter for the homeless. SWIC and various agencies in the county also have transitional housing programs that provide temporary residency while helping an individual secure permanent housing.
SWiC paid for the meals from God’s Chuckwagon while Servants To All and the Tamaqua Salvation Army provided clothing and other donations. Grocery gift cards and motel vouchers are being supplied by the Schuylkill County Mental Health and Developmental Services Office and Schuylkill Community Action to distribute to homeless individuals during the count and the Holiday Inn Express, Frackville, and the Tamaqua Salvation Army supplied toiletries and other items.
Schuylkill County ranks second only to Monroe County in the ratio of homeless to total population among the 32 counties in the region, according to LHOT figures on the last two point-in-time counts. Monroe County has a population of 169,842 and an average of 114 homeless counted over the last two years. Meanwhile, Schuylkill County has a population of 148,289.
Monroe County has the third highest population in the region and Schuylkill County is sixth.
Point-In-Time Count locations:
Frackville
God’s Chuckwagon
4 to 5:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29
Frackville Borough Building
Girardville
God’s Chuckwagon
6 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29
Girardville Borough Building
Mahanoy City
6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28
Zion Baptist Church, 400 E. Market St.
Shenandoah
God’s Chuckwagon
4 to 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 28
American Legion Post 792, 116 N. Main St.
Minersville
11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28
St. Matthew the Evangelist Church, corner of Church and Spencer streets
Orwigsburg
10 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Jan. 28
10 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Feb. 3
God’s Helping Hands Outlet, 12 Molino Road
Pottsville
6:15 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28
Pottsville Soup Kitchen, 504 Mahantongo St.
Pottsville
Noon meal Friday, Jan. 29
Pottsville Salvation Army, 400 Sanderson St.
Tamaqua
Meal from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29
Tamaqua Salvation Army, 105 W. Broad St.
Saint Clair
Meal from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28
Community Mission, 254 N. Mill St.