In cities across America this week, volunteers conducted the annual Point-In-Time (PIT) survey, which aims to accurately count the homeless population on a single day in January.
In San Angelo the appointed day was Thursday, Jan. 23, and organizers with the Concho Valley Homeless Planning Coalition paired the count with its monthly Navigation Day, which has become a welcome lifeline for the homeless community.
Coalition member Jason Priddy, with West Texas Counseling & Guidance, said the survey is important as the count figures prominently into funding for homeless-related services from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Priddy said he has been involved with the PIT survey for a few years now, and acknowledges that while the system is imperfect, they put a lot of effort into getting the most accurate count they can.
“We know there are more homeless people than just the ones we are able to identify,” Priddy explained. “Some people — for whatever reason — don’t want to be counted, but these numbers are what we have to go with for HUD purposes, so we’re just trying to do our best.”
Priddy said he has done some ride-alongs with local officials in the months leading up to the PIT survey, working out likely spots to encounter homeless residents. Volunteers, later working the city in sectors, make use of this information. The volunteers also conduct surveys at First Presbyterian during the Navigation Day event from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
He said this year they had about 20 volunteers conducting surveys, adding that the results should be available sometime this spring.
Priddy talked briefly about how Navigation Day came about.
“It grew out of necessity,” he said. “After that big tent city fire a couple of years ago, I was talking with Sidney Timmer — with the Concho Valley Community Action Agency — and we were trying to figure out how to help, and how to grow trust.”
He said many of the camp’s residents lost most, if not all, of their belongings, including vital records.
The result was the creation of a Homeless Outreach Team, which held the first Navigation Day in June of 2022, in the basement of the Cactus Hotel where they were able to aid 25 households.
Since then, the event has expanded three times and currently is held in the Wood Gymnasium at First Presbyterian Church downtown, usually on the fourth Tuesday of the month.
Currently, organizers say they are routinely able to help more than 100 households at each Navigation Day event.
While organizers work to get their stations set up and make sure everything is in place, some folks are gathered in the chilly parking lot waiting for the doors to open.
Making their way inside, the temperature is warm, and there is hot coffee and other refreshments with several tables in the middle for them to sit and relax, as representatives from about 20 local agencies and organizations are on hand to connect them with health care, dependency issues, legal aid, and assistance in acquiring vital records and identification, to name just a few services on offer.
A few ministries have brought racks of warm clothing including coats, pants and shirts, and many needful things are offered to attendees, including some good food, which Priddy said the local community has been great about helping to provide. On Thursday, guests are served burgers courtesy of San Angelo Elk Lodge 1880.
Priddy said that he feels the current continuum-of-care paradigm to help aid the homeless in San Angelo is working, and he praised the cooperation of local officials and law enforcement agencies.
“People need to know that these people are not trying to do anyone harm; they’re just trying to stay alive.”
BY THE NUMBERS:
Homeless In Texas: 2024
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MIDSIZE CITIES
Abilene – 200
Lubbock – 325
Midland – 341
Odessa – 135
San Angelo – 175
LARGE CITIES
Austin – 2,975
Dallas – 3,718
Houston – 3,280
San Antonio – 3,372
Source: U.S. Dept. Housing and Urban Development
