Homelessness reaches new high for Cape, Vineyard and Nantucket in one-night count

The number of homeless people on Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard has increased since last year to its highest figure in 10 years, according to the annual point-in-time count released in early June.

In total, the number of homeless increased to 568 people, 141 more than last year.

Within that total of 568, the number of unsheltered adults increased, and the number of sheltered individuals decreased. Warm weather could be a factor in the increase in unsheltered adults, according to Daniel Gray, program manager with the Barnstable County Human Services Department, the agency that conducts the count.

The annual one-night count was conducted on Jan. 23.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development expects the count to be conducted in a particular way, said Gray.

"Which we know across the entirety of the United States, it's an undercount of those that are experiencing housing instability,” he said.

The county Human Services Department is the lead agency in the region of the HUD Continuum of Care program. The program is designed to assist individuals and families who are homeless. The Cape Cod and Islands Continuum of Care program received $2.4 million from HUD, according to an announcement in February.

Conducting the point-in-time count is part of the Continuum of Care program.

How many people were counted?

The point-in-time count includes people in emergency shelters, transitional housing, motels (if paid for by an agency), on the street, in cars, in abandoned buildings, and in other places not meant for human habitation. The count is categorized by whether people are sheltered or unsheltered, and whether they are adult individuals, part of a family or an unaccompanied youth, under the age of 18.

One notable increase in population was in emergency assistance shelters, which saw an increase of 34 families and 125 individuals. That increase was due, at least in part, to a temporary housing site opened in Yarmouth in response to the statewide need for additional housing, Gray said. All families were expected to vacate that site in April and move to an off-Cape site with more services, according to town and state officials.

Outreach team develops 'good relationships'

Gray said another factor in the numbers produced by the count may be identification.

“Many of the staff on those outreach teams — I've worked on the Cape for quite some time — have established good relationships with those that are experiencing unsheltered homelessness,” Gray said. “So they're able to engage with those folks much easier. They know where they are”

The count was conducted through a survey to ensure one person could not be counted multiple times, Gray said.

“On the Cape that's a lot easier than a place like Boston or, you know, some other part of the state that has a more dense number of individuals experiencing housing instability,” Gray said.

Letting data guide the services

The count also gathers demographic information, Gray said.

HUD funding often goes to those experiencing chronic homelessness, of which someone must have a disabling condition and be homeless for a 12-month period or for instances of homelessness that add up to 12 months over a three-year period, Gray said.

“By building our infrastructure, by having data guide how we want to set up our services, that can result in the opportunity to bring more dollars in,” he said.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Warm weather boosts Cape, Islands homelessness, agency says