Coalition to End Homelessness conducts annual count to help Howard's homeless

Feb. 6—By Allana Haynes — ahaynes@baltsun.com

PUBLISHED:February 6, 2024 at 12:16 p.m.| UPDATED:February 6, 2024 at 12:21 p.m.

Catherine Blessing was a single mother struggling with homelessness almost two decades ago. Last month, she joined 56 others to help the Coalition to End Homelessness in its annual point-in-time count of sheltered and unsheltered people living in Howard County.

Participants in the survey included coalition board members, health department nurses, staff and volunteers who went out to meet individuals experiencing homelessness to provide a snapshot of the situation in the county, according to a news release. The information collected helps officials plan resource allocation to better serve those in need.

Today, Blessing, 63, owns a home in Pasadena in Anne Arundel County, where she lives with her son, 28, and she said she hopes the point-in-time count and other services provided by the Coalition to End Homelessness will help to reduce homelessness in the county.

"It really is possible to end the unhoused situation, and there are programs available to you that support you during that time of transition and getting you into a place that's safe where you can call your own," she said.

Blessing has served as a board member with the coalition for about a year. She also works with the Howard County Health Department as a certified peer recovery specialist and registered peer advisor, providing support to those with mental health disorders and/or substance use disorders.

She can relate to those she helps. After injuring her neck in a diving accident due to drinking nearly two decades ago, Blessing said her life spiraled out of control. Out of work for a year, she turned to drinking to cope with her injury, she said, which led to the deterioration of her relationship with her partner. Eventually, she and her then-10-year-old son became homeless. They lived out of her car for three months, traveling around the region, sometimes staying with friends.

On July 19, 2006, Blessing said she became depressed to the point where she contemplated suicide.

"I was on the Key Bridge and I was going to jump, but the grace of a higher power allowed me to think it through and provided me with hope," she said. "It really was the right time for me to find out that there is help for me."

The following day, her daughter took her to her first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. She still attends meetings weekly. She also sought help from a psychiatrist who helped her to understand the physiological and psychological implications of addiction. After getting sober, she applied to college and got a full scholarship to study substance use counseling at Anne Arundel Community College.

In 2023, the coalition's point-in-time count determined that there were 112 people sheltered and 33 unsheltered experiencing homelessness in the county, according to the Howard County Department of Community Resources and Services. Of those, 36 sheltered people were chronically homeless.

Rose Burton, the department's community partnerships manager, said the annual count helps the county build relationships with those experiencing homelessness.

"[The count] is the beginning of building trust and helping [individuals] understand where they can go to get assistance in a way that's safe and non-threatening," she said. "They're going to be treated with compassion and empathy and understanding along with [receiving] professional help that can help them address the issues that they're facing and get them back into housing."

The final numbers for the 2024 count will be available in April, Burton said.

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