VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Dan Treglia, MPP The Homeless Evidence and Research Synthesis (HERS)

VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Dan Treglia, MPPThe Homeless Evidence and Research Synthesis (HERS) Roundtable

SeriesEnumeration of Homelessness

July 14, 2015

PIT Counts: Estimating the Unsheltered

Homeless Population


Parameters of PIT Count• At least once every other year

• Conducted during the last 10 days of January

• Must account for ALL homeless people in CoC– Living in a place not designed or

ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation: unsheltered homeless persons

– Living in emergency shelters and transitional housing projects: sheltered homeless persons


Diversity of Locations

• 469 sq. miles

• 8.5 million people

• 27,857.9 people per sq. mile

• 147,164 sq. miles

• 1 million people

• 6.86 people per sq. mile


The Basics of an Estimate

Street-Based Count Service-Based Count


Street Count Methods

– Entirety of Geographic Area• Boston

– Known “hotspots”• Philadelphia

– Sample with extrapolation• New York City


Street Count Methods

– Entirety of Geographic Area• Boston

– Known “hotspots”• Philadelphia

– Sample with extrapolation• New York City

• 89 mi2

• 143 mi2

• 469 mi2


Simple vs. Stratified Sampling• Divide CoC into small areas

– Census tract or block group

Simple Random Sample

=


Simple vs. Stratified Sampling• Divide CoC into small areas

– Census tract or block group

Stratified Random Sample

=


Service-Based Counts

• Many people who do not use shelter access other services and public facilities

• Ideal when jurisdictions are large & have challenging topography


Service-Based Counts

• Must ask detailed questions about where an individual slept on Count Night

• Can take place for up to 7-days after Count Night

• Must unduplicate across multiple services and nights


Strengths & WeaknessesStreet-Count

• Pros:– Little chance of double

counting– Good understanding of

covered areas– No recall problems

• Cons:– Miss “invisible homeless”– May miss people who do not

appear homeless– Can be affected by weather– Difficult in large geographies

Service-Based Enumeration• Pros:

– Good for large and challenging areas

– Reach “invisible homeless”– Good for targeting hard-to-

reach populations (e.g. youth)

• Cons:– Not all homeless people

access services– May double count– Subject to recall errors


Improving Methodological Fidelity:

Plant-Capture


Improving Coverage• Use sampling to cover more space in a

systematic way

• Use service-based enumerations to supplement street counts– Counts must be coordinated & unduplicated


Questions?• [email protected]

Documents

VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Dan Treglia, MPP The Homeless Evidence and Research Synthesis (HERS)