The 2020 Marshall County Point in Time Count was conducted at eight locations on January 23rd. Committee Chairman, Angie Rupchock-Schafer told WTCA there were a total of 22 participants.
While this year the committee was able to have PIT Count locations in all of the major communities in the county, all of the participants registered using the two Plymouth PIT Count locations: Bread of Life Food Pantry or the Marshall County Neighborhood Center.
Of the 22 participants who registered only 1 was deemed as “homeless” per HUD’s strict definitions they were required to follow.
The question on the survey was “Where did you sleep on the night of Wed., Jan. 22, 2020?” The options were a place not meant for habitation such as the street, a vehicle, park, abandoned building, bus, train station, airport, outdoor encampment, under bridge, overpass or Emergency shelter, Transitional housing or a motel paid for with an Emergency Shelter voucher or other type of aid.
Rupchock-Schafer said, If they did not check “YES” for any of the above options, and that “YES” had to be valid for the night of Wed., Jan. 22, 2020, then they are not considered “homeless” per HUD guidelines. She went on the explain, “For instance, if someone had said ‘yes’ to any of the above questions for the past year, but that “yes” wasn’t still valid for the night of January 22nd, then they are not considered homeless.”
Rupchock-Schafer said they asked PIT Count participants on the Marshall County survey, which was written in partnership with Marshall County service organizations how they would rate “How secure is your current housing?” on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being the least secure and 5 being the most secure, the results were 4 individuals ranked their housing a 5”; 2 families ranked their housing security a “4”; 10 ranked the current living conditions a “3”; 3 participants ranked their housing security a “2” while 3 individuals ranked the question on how secure their housing as a “1”.
