Homeless Count’s Inaccurate

To the Editor: 
I would like to thank the Herald for presenting the report of the Cape May County 2019 Point-In-Time Count of the Homeless, as completed Jan. 22. The entire report was made available via a link in the article posted on the Herald’s website.
However, while the article, “Number of Homeless Declines 12.5% in ’19” (published Aug. 6), stated there was a more than 10% decline in the number of homeless in Cape May County over the last year, there is one statistic that really should be highlighted.
That statistic is one. That is the number of nights in the Point-in-Time Survey equals one.
The report is based on the number of homeless persons Monarch Housing Associates, cooperating agencies and volunteers were able to locate and count Jan. 22. The report indicates its data comes from “a census of all persons in sheltering programs (emergency shelter, transitional housing, and safe-haven programs) … as the unsheltered population identified on the night of the count.”
There are no “emergency shelters” for the homeless in Cape May County. Most municipalities provide emergency shelter for homeowners who have lost power, for example, but there are no shelters provided for the homeless regularly.
Cape Hope operated a warming center at Cape Community Church in Middle Township, but that was only allowed to operate when the weather met certain conditions. Sheltering programs, i.e., emergency housing, was declared to be not available to single adults as of Jan. 1, yet the report said 80 homeless persons were sheltered. Where?
There are also no safe-haven programs for single adults, with the report defining safe haven as a 24-hour residential setting, which “serves hard-to-reach homeless persons with severe mental illness who come primarily from the streets and have been unable or unwilling to participate in housing or supportive services.” Again, there are no such safe havens in Cape May County.
The report also indicated there were no homeless persons in transitional housing; probably because there is none.
The report went on to state, “the strength of the unsheltered count varies from community to community,” and “the count of persons unsheltered in the community may not reflect the full population experiencing homelessness.” There you are, the report might not be accurate, as indicated by the report itself.
We have a less than accurate number this year, which was deemed to be 12.5% less than last year’s inaccurate number. That sounds harsh, but the accuracy of going out and attempting to make a headcount of homeless persons in one night is dependent on a number of variables, so the persons doing the count have a difficult challenge.
Should we disregard the Monarch Housing Associates efforts, or the Cape May County report, out of hand? No. However, we should recognize it for what it is, an attempt, on one night, to get a snapshot of what the homeless population looks like, given the efforts of the people making the count. It’s nothing more than that.