Help create a housed and healthy Brevard | Opinion

Theresa Grimison
·3 min read

Over the next few weeks, you can help secure vital funding, inform public policy, and improve the overall health of our community by engaging with the Point-in-Time Count for Brevard County.

The count is an annual, nationwide survey that provides data on the population experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness during a single night in January. The collected data sheds light on service gaps and helps inform sustainable local and system-wide solutions to help prevent and end homelessness. While the Point-in-Time numbers aren’t the only data about homelessness that communities collect, the survey provides a useful snapshot showing trends from year to year.

The Brevard Homeless Coalition (BHC), Brevard County’s lead agency for our Continuum of Care — the 130-plus organizations and individuals dedicated and working together to prevent and end homelessness — leads the charge in executing our community’s count.

Volunteer Rachel Smith intertviews a woman at Sand Point Park in Titusville. Monday was the Point-in-Time count, where volunteers and organizations go out in the community and count the homeless.
Volunteer Rachel Smith intertviews a woman at Sand Point Park in Titusville. Monday was the Point-in-Time count, where volunteers and organizations go out in the community and count the homeless.

While that may sound like a big group, we need your help.

Here’s why:

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) uses the collected data to determine how to distribute its resources strategically across the country; that funding is directed to programs specifically tailored to local communities’ needs.

In order to secure this essential funding from HUD for our local organizations, we are required to submit the Point-in-Time Count data, which must be thorough and precise.

Importantly, a thorough and precise count also deepens our understanding of our region, strengthens the collective efforts of our Continuum of Care, and informs the solutions tailored for our community.

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For example, here’s some of what we learned from Brevard’s January 2023 Point-in-Time Count:

■ The geographic locations of unsheltered individuals remains consistent with the population density of North, Central, and South Brevard.

■ In just one year, there was a 15% surge in the number of unsheltered individuals, including a 117% rise in veterans and a 43% increase in females.

■ More than half of the individuals experiencing chronic or long-term homelessness had a disability or disabling condition.

■ The data show us we need at least 1,200 more units of permanently supportive and deeply affordable housing across Brevard.

Jon Moist, a volunteer with Under the Bridge Ministries, interviews a homeless man during a previous Point-in-Time Count. (Credit: MALCOLM DENEMARK/FLORIDA TODAY)
Jon Moist, a volunteer with Under the Bridge Ministries, interviews a homeless man during a previous Point-in-Time Count. (Credit: MALCOLM DENEMARK/FLORIDA TODAY)

You can learn more by visiting BrevardHomelessCoalition.org and clicking on the Point-in-Time Count tab.

Because the success of the count hinges on community involvement, we invite you to join in the effort:

Volunteer: Spend a few hours between January 25th and 31st to join fellow volunteers canvassing our community. You’ll receive training beforehand and be paired with others while you volunteer. Email the Brevard Homeless Coalition at pit@brevardhomelesscoalition.org by January 18 for more information and to sign up. Or, sign up using this link: bit.ly/PIT-Volunteer-SignUp

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Spread the message: Share this information with your friends, family, and colleagues. Encourage them to volunteer and underscore the Point-in-Time Count’s importance in securing vital funding and helping our neighbors and community.

Advocate: Meet with our local officials, community leaders, and friends and neighbors to encourage inclusive, pro-housing initiatives in our cities and throughout our County.

Contribute: If volunteering isn’t feasible, consider donating to the BHC to support this effort and the COC’s work as a whole. You can also find a list of COC member organizations at BrevardHomelessCoalition.org. To donate funds for the Point in Time Count: https://square.link/u/uXETtJ3e

Theresa Grimison is the President and CEO of the Community Foundation for Brevard and is on the Board of Directors for the Brevard Homeless Coalition
Theresa Grimison is the President and CEO of the Community Foundation for Brevard and is on the Board of Directors for the Brevard Homeless Coalition

While we’re focusing specifically on the PIT Count this month, we hope you will join us in the larger effort of uniting and elevating our community by addressing homelessness, housing, hunger, and poverty. All of us can be part of sustained solutions that create a brighter future for our neighbors, leading to healthier Brevard County communities for us all.

Theresa Grimison is the President and CEO of the Community Foundation for Brevard and is on the Board of Directors for the Brevard Homeless Coalition 

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Be part of the team that asseses Brevard's homeless population