Volunteers seek to categorize homeless by vulnerability index

Starting Saturday, volunteers in Orange County will count the homeless to fulfill an annual federal requirement — and for the first time, they will also assess who is likely to die on the street.

The county is joining the nationwide 100,000 Homes Campaign this year. The initiative aims to identify the most needy homeless people and help them find homes by July 2013 based on a vulnerability index.

About 40 volunteers, close to four times the usual number, will conduct both the mandated demographic survey and the need-based survey from Jan. 21 to Jan. 27.

“Instead of just counting people and finding out basic demographic information about them, we are also administering the survey, which looks at health and determines who is most likely to die on the street,” said Jamie Rohe, Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness coordinator.

To be considered vulnerable, an individual must have been homeless for at least six months and meet one of eight criteria.

The aim of the new survey is to give community organizations a better idea of what services the homeless most need.

A committee will meet on Feb. 6 to discuss the results and assign a vulnerability ranking of zero to eight to each person. The rankings will be used to match the most needy with appropriate housing.

The O.C. Partnership to End Homelessness is joining the United Way of the Greater Triangle and Wake County Partnership to End Homelessness to conduct the survey, said coordinator Chantelle Fisher-Borne.

She said the group has been working with local landlords and organizations to find housing.

As in years past, volunteers will also conduct the required annual Point-in-Time count, a demographic survey of the homeless. Last year’s count reported 33 unsheltered and 136 total homeless people in Chapel Hill.

Rohe said she expects this year’s count to be higher because it will cover more remote areas.

She also said she expects to see more homelessness among families due to persistent unemployment and home foreclosures.

Rohe said the survey is done in January because cold weather drives the homeless into shelters, making it easier to poll them.

But Ray Staples, who has been on Chapel Hill’s streets for more than 20 years, said he doesn’t think shelters are more full during the winter.

“A lot of people avoid the shelters because of their rules.”

And Chris Moran, executive director of the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service, said the Point-in-Time count is an ineffective assessment because it is only done one day at each selected location.

He said a more in-depth, year-long study would better identify needs and ways to prevent future homelessness than the count.

“That number is not a good indicator of how many homeless people there are,” he said. “I just think it’s a requirement.”

Rohe said the survey does underestimate of the number of homeless people in the area.

“It doesn’t include people who are in hospitals, treatment programs, jails, mental hospitals, or staying with friends or relatives.”

Among the new surveyors are two local mayors — Chapel Hill’s Mark Kleinschmidt and Carrboro’s Mark Chilton.

“Homelessness is an issue I’ve been working on for a long time,” said Chilton, who works with the Orange County’s partnership.

“I think it will be beneficial to see this process first hand.”

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