2011 State of Hawaii Homeless Persons Point-In-Time County Report

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have first hand experience in areas frequented by unsheltered homeless populations. Outreach workers would also have rapport with many of the consumers that they encountered in their existing service areas. Other agencies and volunteers assisted outreach agencies during the six -day count. Implementation The designated outreach agencies demarcated areas within the counties and were assigned according to areas where they normally conduct outreach services. Each agency then independently scheduled days and times field staff would visit known sites; balancing safety with timing in an effort to maximize the number of unsheltered persons counted. The rural counties implemented a methodology similar to the Oahu unsheltered count. Each of the rural counties was partitioned into distinct areas that could be distinguished by a numbering scheme. This numbering scheme delineated the areas and made it possible to amass total homeless individuals by area. This can possibly be compared to future counts assuming that outreach providers are performing the unsheltered counts with maximum effort and resources. While the 2005 and 2007 PIT used a sampling method to survey persons encountered, the 2009, 2010, and 2011 HMIS PIT methodology required that all unsheltered persons identified be asked to complete a survey. This was needed in order to obtain the name and /or unique identifying description of each person being counted so that persons could be entered into the HMIS database and unduplicated with confidence. The added work of surveying each person encountered was one of the primary reasons why the duration of the count was increased to six days. Another reason was to provide the field staff with more time to reach as many unsheltered persons as possible who spent the night of January 25, 2011, unsheltered, to be included in the count. It should be noted that all adults surveyed were asked where they slept on the night of January 25, 2011. Persons indicating that they were sheltered on the 25th were not included in the final count of unsheltered homeless individuals, even if they spent just the single night at a friend's or relative's place. A person's household composition (single or part of a household) was determined by using the survey question "Are you living alone or with others ? ", and then requesting the number of adults and /or children under 18 in their household, if applicable. Furthermore, the number of chronically homeless persons (according to HUD's definition) was determined by analyzing survey responses relative to household composition, duration of homelessness, and presence of a disabling condition. The chronically homeless number was calculated using data from unaccompanied homeless persons and families with at least one adult meeting the chronically homeless definition.