A homeless encampment is pictured June 9, 2023, just off the Schuylkill River Trail in Norristown. Credit: MediaNews Group
On Jan. 23, 78 volunteers comprising local community leaders and homeless service providers assisted in the effort to count all people experiencing homelessness on one night in Montgomery County.
(The following information was provided by the Montgomery County Office of Communications.)
On Jan. 23, 78 volunteers comprising local community leaders and homeless service providers assisted in the effort to count all people experiencing homelessness on one night in Montgomery County.
The 2024 Annual HUD Point-in-Time (PIT) Count identified 435 individuals sleeping in the County’s emergency shelters (including hotel rooms paid for with public funding), transitional housing projects, or outdoors.
“The Point-in-Time Count offers us one snapshot of what homelessness may look like on any given night and can help us plan our strategies and interventions accordingly.” said Kayleigh Silver, Administrator of the HHS Office of Housing and Community Development. “We have not seen the major increases in numbers that other parts of the country have seen, and that is due to the coordinated efforts of services available through Your Way Home.”
Specifically, the 2024 PIT Count found the following:
There wee 334 people sleeping in a site-based emergency shelter on the night of the Count, including active Code Blue shelters and transitional housing facilities, a 27% increase from 2023.
There were 101 people found unsheltered on the night of the Count, an 8% decrease from the 110 people found in 2023.
The increase in sheltered individuals encountered in the 2024 PIT Count in Montgomery County reflects an increase in Code Blue sheltering capacity in 2024, which allowed more individuals to access shelter during a cold night in January.
Volunteers provided assistance that night, offering supplies to any homeless individuals located outdoors, as well as transportation to available Code Blue shelters. Items distributed were recommended by the Your Way Home Lived Experience Advisory Team and donated by the community through the Your Way Home PIT Count Wish List.
Volunteers surveyed areas in and around Abington, Ambler, Ardmore, Bridgeport, Cheltenham, East Greenville, King of Prussia, Lansdale, Lower Merion, Norristown, Pennsburg, Pottstown, Royersford, Souderton, and Willow Grove; unsheltered individuals were encountered throughout the county.
The PIT Count was conducted by Montgomery County PA-504 Continuum of Care (CoC) under the direction of the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) Office of Housing and Community Development.
The HHS Office of Housing and Community Development revised its PIT methodology in 2022 and maintained that approach this year to include targeted and intentional outreach to community leaders with local knowledge of those experiencing homelessness for participation in the Count.
The need for homeless services and affordable housing in Montgomery County is great. The Point-in-Time Count helps the county have more knowledge of those experiencing housing instability.
Systemic drivers into homelessness have been stronger than the ability to quickly re-house households experiencing homelessness. Lack of housing affordability remains a large factor in housing instability in Montgomery County, with rents having increased 15% and home prices increasing by 25% since the start of the pandemic.
Resources have been made available to combat this challenge. The HHS Office of Housing and Community Development’s proposed 2024-25 Housing Action Plan budget, funded by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD), has approximately $1.2 million dedicated to combatting homelessness.
Additionally, the following funding and programming administered by the Office assists in addressing homelessness and housing affordability:
Despite challenges, Your Way Home continues to make strides in solving homelessness by embracing a “housing first” approach through meaningful partnerships with providers and community groups.
Between 2021 and 2023, 79% of Your Way Home Rapid Rehousing clients maintained permanent housing stability after exiting the program. The Housing First approach helps individuals who are unsheltered or living in an emergency shelter find permanent housing without preconditions or barriers. It then connects them with the community, health, human, and financial services they need to prevent future experiences of homelessness.
In 2023, there were 8,879 eviction filings in Montgomery County. Your Way Home has continued to work to assist renters at risk of eviction by providing emergency rent and utility assistance. In 2023, Your Way Home distributed over $30.5 million in emergency rent and utility assistance to over 3,900 households impacted by COVID-19. Due to the end of the public health emergency, the Emergency Rent and Utilities Coalition closed to new applicants in January of 2024. Your Way Home continues to manage the Eviction Prevention and Intervention Coalition (EPIC), which is a project designed to stabilize vulnerable families and individuals in Montgomery County facing eviction by providing them with free legal and social services support on the day of their eviction hearing.
Residents interested in contributing to a unified voice for positive change in Montgomery County around issues of homelessness are welcome to join the Your Way Home Continuum of Care (CoC). Membership in the CoC is free and open to any person or organization committed to ending and preventing homelessness in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Anyone interested can register for membership in the CoC here.
Point-in-Time Count numbers submitted by counties are considered preliminary until HUD reviews and releases the final count.
