MRWS conducting a homelessness count

In order to figure out what the homelessness is like in Rocky Mountain House, Clearwater County and the Village of Caroline, the MRWS will be going out and doing an actual count.

The Point In Time (PiT) Count is a government survey that will help identify how many people in our region are experiencing homelessness in shelters and on the streets at a given time.

Coordinator, Gwen MacGregor says homelessness is often hidden, so this will help them better understand how many are actually homeless so they can access services offered in the Town and County.

“We decided that homelessness was a big factor in the County as well as the Town and in order to get answers to the housing here, we need to know who aren’t we supporting.”

Once the numbers are in MacGregor adds that they hope to see this help with more funding for housing projects in the community.

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This whole project is funded by the Alberta Rural Development Network where they will also send their results back to them. This will be the first rural PiT count that’s been conducted as they are normally done most in cities.

“When we actually go out into the community and the county we have certain areas that we feel may have homeless people there” she says. “So we will walk the whole area and ask people questions like, ‘do you have an address that you are going to? Do you have somewhere to sleep tonight?’ and then that will tell us whether or not they are homeless. But, we are literally going to the different parks and camp grounds and walking it and tapping on their doors if they are in RVs or tents or whatever and literally asking them these questions.”

MacGregor adds that they need about 16-20 volunteers to help with the survey.

The PiT Count is expected to take place from September 13 to the 14.