On a cold night, finding Linn County's homeless proves difficult

CEDAR RAPIDS — In the early morning hours Thursday, Dusty Noble and Sam Pritchard wandered with a purpose through a Cedar Rapids park within sight of the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library.

Noble, outreach coordinator with the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program, and Pritchard, regional director of Sen. Joni Ernst's Cedar Rapids office, were looking for three individuals reportedly sleeping in the area.

Finally, Noble called it: 'No one's here.'

That was the general consensus throughout the Point-In-Time count conducted across Cedar Rapids late Wednesday and into the early hours of Thursday. Noble and Pritchard were among about a dozen volunteers involved in the count, an annual effort that aims to track the number of individuals staying on the street, as well as those in local shelters, transitional housing facilities and on waiting lists for shelters in Linn County.

Starting around midnight, volunteers from various area service agencies, including Willis Dady, HACAP, the Abbe Center and Veteran's Affairs, took to cars and an ATV to search for individuals in the usual spots — under bridges and along bike trails — or in any place with heat — like 24-hour laundromats and gas stations.

'It's important because we have to set a benchmark for the state and the community,' Noble said.

By the time the count ended around 3:30 a.m., Noble's group had found some signs of homelessness — including a pile of blankets under a bridge near the Cedar River — but had counted no homeless individuals. Other groups that went out also reported they found no one.

However, since temperatures dipped below 32 degrees overnight Wednesday and into Thursday, the open overflow shelters most likely accounted for where homeless individuals were staying for the night, he said.

Noble said organizers still are collecting numbers of homeless individuals who came to meal sites Thursday and should have a final count by Monday.

Required count

The count takes place twice a year, in July and in January. However, the Jan. 25 count is required each year by agencies that receive funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said Phoebe Trepp, executive director of Willis Dady.

Trepp said data from the count is sent to the state through the Iowa Council on Homelessness and eventually onto the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Numbers and demographics also are reported to Linn County Social Services and United Way of East Central Iowa, which is to release an official report sometime in the coming months, Trepp said.

Trepp said this month's count will help establish the official baseline for the next two to three years, which will be used to compare historic trends.

While July's count is not required, Trepp said the Linn County agencies conduct it to have a better idea of homelessness in the area.

'It let's us know what we're doing right, and what we're not doing right,' Noble said.

Last July, a total of 388 individuals were counted as homeless — down from the January 2016 total of 400.

The trend of homeless individuals in Linn County has fluctuated over the years, according to data collected by the agencies. The number dipped in January 2013 to 367, but grew in July of that same year to 523. Trepp said the number typically ranges between 300 and 400 individuals.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, January 2016 saw a total of 3,064 homeless individuals across the state of Iowa, which is a slight decrease from the previous year's total of 3,081. However, both years show an overall increase from the 2007 total of 2,734.

National perspective

So far, recently inaugurated President Donald Trump has not revealed any plans regarding the nation's homeless population, a fact that makes Trepp nervous.

'I think it's really an unclear time,' she said.

In 2009, former President Barack Obama signed the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing — or HEARTH — Act, which created a Rural Housing Stability Assistance program, an increase in preventive services and an increase in agency performance standards.

Trepp said in the last eight years, the HEARTH Act has helped service agencies like Willis Dady take major steps to addressing homelessness locally by providing 'aspiring goals' to end the problem and pathways on how to achieve it.

Trepp said the possibility of a repeal of the HEARTH act has created concern among service agency employees.

'It's not just about actually paying the bills, but how our clients who make the very least income in our community will be impacted,' Trepp said. 'These are really uncertain times and we hope there's a lot of consideration and thought in decisions that are made, especially those that make an impact on homeless, not just put a Band-Aid on it.'

Trepp said no matter what may happen, Willis Dady still plans to participate in the Point-In-Time count.

'There's a lot of value in knowing the real story about what's out there in terms of homelessness,' Trepp said. 'We definitely will continue to do this count because it's important for our community to know what homelessness looks like and how we can help.'

Homelessness statewide

Here's the total number of homeless individuals living in the state of Iowa from 2007 to 2016, according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The data accounts for individuals living on the street and in various shelters.

- 2016 — 3,064

- 2015 — 3,081

- 2014 — 3,122

- 2013 — 3,084

- 2012 — 2,928

- 2011 — 3,134

- 2010 — 3,014

- 2009 — 3,380

- 2008 — 3,346

- 2007 — 2,734

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