HOMELESS COUNT TAKEN

By Chris Cook - Forks Forum editor

The number of homeless people camping out, sleeping in cars and staying with friends may be trending down.

The “Point in Time” count of homeless people in Forks and other West End towns was made on Thursday, Jan. 24.
Sherry Fleck of West End Outreach in Forks said the preliminary count showed 412 homeless individuals, 219 households without a home and 186 homeless children. Ruth King from West End Outreach also worked on the count.
Fleck said Thursday that numbers from Neah Bay are still to be tallied.

The count covered the West End, including the Hoh, Makah and Quileute reservations. Similar counts were recently made in Seattle and other regions of Washington state.

A similar count made a year ago showed 438 people homeless on the West End, King said” prior to the count that a survey sheet used asked questions including whether the person is a veteran,  if they are living in the woods, are they male or female, birthday, do they have any disabilities such as drug abuse or mental illness, and their initials. No full names are required on the forms.

The survey also asked, “where did you stay last night, what situation caused you to be homeless, what sources of income do you have.” King said some Hispanic residents of the West End are hesitant to fill out the forms, and thus may be undercounted.

The “Point In Time” homeless census is done anonymously each year and includes those on the street, people staying temporarily with others, those housed in emergency shelters. The benefit of the count is its role in qualifying Clallam County for state and federal funds for affordable housing.