Homeward Trust conducts Edmonton’s 2024 homeless count

Article content

A mix of new and experienced volunteers have begun conducting a de facto census of Edmonton’s homeless community.

Volunteers arrived at one of 12 base sites across Edmonton on Thursday for the first part of the 24-hour homeless count, dubbed the Point-In-Time (PiT) Count, dressed in bright yellow vests and equipped with tobacco and gift cards to help them engage with the homeless. They began with a neighbourhood and street count, from 4 p.m.- 10 p.m., handing out gift cards as an honorarium for those who completed the survey.

Article content

On Friday, more experienced teams will head out to parks and encampments to continue the count and survey.

Jackie Liu, chief impact officer at Homeward Trust, said volunteers have gone through extensive training in preparation for the PiT count, and always keep the safety of both volunteers and vulnerable populations in mind.

“The impacts (of homelessness) are very real, but they’re very distinct and unique to those individuals…Our approach is very much to respect the rights and perspectives of individuals,” Liu said.

“We’re not here to judge. Everyone is on their individual journey.”

Postmedia tagged along with three volunteers for a few hours who went out to conduct the count and survey.

The first question volunteers asked the homeless was whether or not they had a place to stay.

“I don’t know,” was heard more often than “yes” during the hours Postmedia spent with volunteers on the street.

Nationally coordinated homeless count

Homeward Trust has been conducting a bi-annual homeless count since 1999, with the most recent count in Edmonton conducted in 2022.

Article content

Article content

This year’s PiT count is a nationally-coordinated one-night event to create a snapshot of those experiencing homelessness at a point in time. The count will now be annual and include a mandatory survey every two years.

The survey takes 10 minutes to complete on average, and has detailed questions to provide community agencies with a better understanding of the homeless demographic.

“The count will tell us, at this point in time, the people who we can visually verify as experiencing homelessness,” Liu said.

“So every single individual actually will complete a mandatory survey. Hopefully, the survey will tell us a bit about that person’s experience of homelessness, the barriers and their experiences.”

Homeward Trust has continued updating its “By Name List” which tracks people in the system by their name and birthday, organized by sector. The last reported count was 4,011 in July 2024.

‘There’s a lot of barriers’

Liu said he’s conducted several surveys in Calgary, and this will be his second homeless count in Edmonton. He said since their last count in 2022, there are more emergency shelters in Edmonton and more pathways to end homelessness.

Article content

“The work doesn’t diminish,” Liu said.

“I’ve known the sector to give their all regardless of the situation. Those of us that work in the nonprofit sector…we’re always working from a place of need, trying to connect people to the services that would benefit them and to find stability.”

Crystal McCarthy-Nelson, a volunteer taking part in the count on Friday, said part of the reason it’s so important to go out and take part in the count is to understand the needs of those experiencing homelessness.

“There’s a lot of barriers that are still happening within the system and it’s unfortunate, but I understand why we’re doing the count,” McCarthy-Nelson said. “We want to make sure that we have the people and we’re navigating the system in a good way.”

[email protected]

X: @kccindytran

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add EdmontonJournal.com and EdmontonSun.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun.

Article content