On Wednesday January 27, 2010 staff and volunteers from Edgerton Outreach and many other agencies throughout Rock County will attempt to count those who are homeless in our community. Agencies in Rock County, and throughout the state, on the 27th will track and log the number of persons provided shelter through a motel voucher, transitional living program, or shelter facility to assess the number of homeless persons receiving shelter services. The second part to Rock County’s count will include an actual “street count” through which teams led by experienced homeless service providers will mobilize throughout the night time hours to attempt to count homeless persons, not in shelter and when possible help that person find shelter. The end goal is to have an accurate picture of the number of homeless persons in Rock County and also for the whole state.
Sometimes people living on the street do not want to be sheltered for a variety of reasons. Our annual Street Count allows agencies to reach out to people whether or not they are part of a shelter program and provide them with shelter kits and to hopefully be able to refer them to meal sites and other resources. The homeless count also helps the Rock County Homeless Intervention Task Force determine the level of need in our community. HITF is a consortium working together to end homelessness in Rock County through seamless delivery of collaborative services.
Edgerton Outreach, being a partner agency of HITF, is able to access resources to provide motel vouchers for homeless persons and families in Edgerton. Through this partnership, ECO is also able to access resources for other housing services including rent assistance and the Lawton Street Transitional Living Program.