Annual Point In Time Event Counts Homeless In Fulton County

ROSWELL, GA — On one of the coldest nights every year, hundreds of volunteers around Fulton County set out into the community simply to help their neighbors.

Trained volunteers and experienced outreach professionals came together Jan. 23 to conduct the single-night homeless count and survey of people experiencing homelessness in Fulton County, excluding the City of Atlanta. The Point In Time Count allows municipalities to seek appropriate funds to help those in need to obtain economic stability while also building strong communities with affordable housing.

Fulton County is one of hundreds of communities across the country that conducts a count at the end of January. The count ensures Fulton County's ability to help municipalities secure federal homeless assistance funding from the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. The count demonstrates the scope and scale of homelessness in the county, which provides policymakers and funders with information on the number and demographic characteristics of the families and individuals who are experiencing homelessness.

Fulton County Commissioner Bob Ellis was one of the nearly 100 volunteers who showed up to help count at North Fulton Community Charities until past midnight.

Ellis said one of the reasons he's proud to live in North Fulton is because there are many organizations that have been created due to the proactive community.

"We have a very caring community," he said. "That was evident. These are people who in their every day lives are engaged in their community, whether through civic organizations or their church. Individually, they chose to participate. We have a very supporting and caring community."

He's had a chance to work with the homeless population through organizations he's involved with.

"Overtime, I've realized what a complex issue homelessness is," he said. "The thing about the Point in Time Count is, while it can be a hit or miss, it allows you to see aspects of things within the community that you would maybe not necessarily see on the surface during the business of a day. It allows you to get a different perspective and understanding."

Suburban homelessness can look a lot different from homelessness in the core of an urban environment, he said.

"The face of homelessness can look so different from what you anticipate it to be," Ellis said. "In so many of these situations, folks have jobs and it wouldn't be visible that they were in a homeless situation, but they are. They're using their car as shelter, have figured out a way to get themselves cleaned up and to work or school. They're trying to keep some semblance of a normal life despite that they're in a state of homelessness."

For people who want to help, Ellis suggested working on the ground with folks in homeless situations.

"While we have strong volunteer networks like North Fulton Community Charities, the Drake House, and the Community Assistance Center, they still have needs that they are encountering that they are not always able to meet," he said. "Certainly, if the opportunity to support those organizations occurs, the work they do is leveraged multi-fold in terms of financial resources they receive. They do a phenomenal job of leveraging those resources, not only helping family or individuals find immediate assistance, but also helping them learn or relearn how to capture the life skills they may need in that point in time to get themselves back to state of security and stability and permanency in terms of housing."