Hundreds of volunteers will be working throughout the province’s three biggest cities today counting the number of people experiencing homelessness.
The Point-in-Time Homelessness Count is one-day data collection conducted every few years to provide a snapshot of the trends around homelessness.
The volunteers will be collecting data in Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert.
Organizer and Director of the Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership, Chris Randall, says these counts help influence policy makers.
“This data will affect funding for programs that are needed out there,” he said.
A count in 2015 showed nearly 100 children and youth were experiencing homelessness in Saskatoon alone. Randall says this data helped inspire policies to protect children and youth from homelessness.
Preliminary data on the counts will be available in the next week, with a full report to be released next month.
Funding for the Point-in-Time Count is provided by the Government of Canada’s Homelessness Partnering Strategy.
Point-in-Time counts are held across North America.
(PHOTO: Point-in-Time logo. Photo courtesy of homelesshub.com)