Homeless Point in Time Count Takes Place

“Did you sleep outside the night of January 24th or stay with family or friends?”

That’s the first question on the anonymous survey to better understand homelessness in the region.

“It takes the whole community to help count,” said Maria Essman, Lutheran Social Service Program Manager.

Lutheran Social Service teams up with local organizations and other volunteers to help get an accurate count of people in the community who are experiencing homelessness.

“It tells them what homeless looks like here, approximately how many people are homeless and what are some of the contributing factors to their homelessness,” said Carole Paschelke, Brainerd Salvation Army Family Services Director.

Getting this data in the Metro area is often easier than in rural towns that need it most.

“In rural Minnesota, that is what homelessness looks like: in January, the middle of winter, we don’t have a long line of people hanging out by the soup kitchen in a Metro area,” Paschelke said. “Here, what we have is people hiding out, living with friends and family temporarily during the cold season, trying to hide from landlords to everyone doesn’t get evicted.”

Even getting people to come to fill out the survey can be difficult in the Brainerd Lakes Region.

“Here people are in fish houses, campers, in the woods and places we can’t easily see,” Essman said.

The definition of homelessness has even caused confusion for those who double up.

“People who sleep on other people’s sofa, they go from house to house,” said Lt. Grant Holloway, the Brainerd Salvation Army Administrator. “They might have a place for two or three weeks but long term, do they have a home?”

For those that come to fill out the survey, the Salvation Army also has everything from winter coats, socks and even hand warmers for people to take with them to stay warm. Incentives like these help bring in more people which in turn will bring more dollars.

“This has a really big impact in the funding that we get as a community, not just the Salvation Army but all of the other organizations,” said Lt. Grant Holloway.

It’s a day full of questions and answers that all lead to one common goal.

“It really helps us understand where we are at and how we are coming together as a community to help to end homelessness,” Essman said.