Our partners from James City County. Lauren Tolly and Lyndsay Lopez, invited The Planning Council's Karen Griffith (GVPHC Coordinator) to participate in a discussion with Greg Riley, Williamsburg House of Mercy, on a podcast episode of "This Week in James City County". This podcast episode focused on The State of Housing – 2024 Point in Time Count, to chat on the experiencing planning, facilitating, and participating in the 2024 Point in Time Count.  Karen was able to provide information on the data collected during the previous Point in Time Counts as well as the wider impact of the count and its role in bringing resources to our community. Thank you to James City County for providing the CoC with a platform to discuss the important work that we do to help those experiencing homelessness in our community!

​Staff from the Hampton VAMC partnered together with the community early in the morning of January 25, 2024 to engage in the annual Point In Time (PIT) count in Hampton, Virginia. Led by a police officer, the team hit the streets in search of any people experiencing homelessness. During the course of our search, we scoured the streets, woods, beaches, known encampments, and even abandoned buildings. We came across nine different individuals who had experienced homelessness: two who had slept outside last night near gas stations, and seven who had slept in shelters but then gone to the bus station or their daily hangouts behind abandoned buildings. One of the individuals was a veteran. When the sun started coming up, we encountered less and less people, so it was time to wrap it up and call it a day. We appreciate the help of Officer Brown and all the partners in the community who made this possible. We could not have done this if not for team work. Thanks!  - Gretchen Hilburger (Hampton VA Medical Center) 

​Today, January 25, 2024, volunteers and outreach teams around the nation are conducting the annual Point In Time Count survey to submit information about persons that are experiencing homelessness. HUD requires the Point In Time (PIT) count which is a count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January. Each count is planned, coordinated, and carried out locally.
In the Hampton Roads community, The Planning Council collects this data through about 110 trained volunteers, homeless outreach workers, case managers, and community members surveying individuals experiencing homelessness. In effort to encourage survey participants to share their information, the survey teams had a plethora of goods and gifts to pass out for their willingness to participate. Items distributed included bus passes, gift cards to McDonald’s, hats, gloves, socks, scarves, first aid kits, etc.
Thank you to all our team leads, volunteers, police, deputies, park rangers, emergency medical services staff, fire fighters, case managers, and community members for volunteering to be trained and to conduct the count. Surveys gathered as early as 3:00AM to kick off the count and felt the security of police escorts and the support offered from The Planning Council for proper completion of each interaction to process the collected data and ultimately submit to HUD.
Thank you to The Planning Council Board members, Sentara Healthcare, Moms on a Mission, Healthcare for the Homeless, the Heart of Giving, and ForKids for the donations that made this count possible!
We are so appreciative to everyone coming together to support our shared goal to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.