A wintertime count of Colorado’s homeless population is likely to be higher – some say by as much as 15 percent or 20 percent – than the results of an August survey that provided the state’s first glimpse at the problem in nearly two decades.
The summertime count tallied at least 12,000 homeless people, some tucked into Colorado’s most rural and hard-to-reach areas.
A winter survey often picks up those missed in the summer, as lower temperatures drive the homeless toward basic services such as shelter and food, advocates for the homeless say.
“I actually think we’ll see more, and up to 20 percent isn’t out of the question, primarily because there are not as many homeless people visible in the summer,” said Jennifer Walker, executive director of the Women’s Crisis & Family Outreach Center in Castle Rock. “More people are staying in shelters and accessing those services because of the cold.”
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is requiring the Jan. 29 count to help distribute nearly $15 million for housing and shelter assistance in Colorado.
The idea of a wintertime one-night count of the homeless, known as a point-in-time survey, is hardly new. The Metropolitan Denver Homeless Initiative and the Mile High United Way have been doing it for years, helping the city and surrounding counties determine the extent of the problem.
Last year’s January survey found that the seven-county metro homeless population dropped 11.5 percent to just more than 9,000 people.
“This is to get the landscape of who is homeless, to help us know the gaps of service and to help implement preventive strategies,” United Way spokeswoman Stacey Haskell said.
More than 480 nonprofit groups participated in the summer count across the state’s 64 counties.
Rural areas that see population spikes during the migrant farm- worker season expect to count fewer homeless this winter.
“The rural areas don’t have the ability for those outside of shelters to survive the winter,” said Lance Cheslock, director of La Puente Home in Alamosa and co-coordinator of the count in Alamosa County.
“They go to the city in the winter, and our busy season is traditionally in the summer and fall because of the harvest. I expect we’ll see a 50 percent drop from our summertime count.”
La Plata County social workers say they expect a higher count as winter snows drive out forest campers not tallied in the summer.
“What astounded me was the number of families living in a camp or a pickup truck,” said Pat Carlson, director of the county’s Department of Human Services.
Staff writer David Migoya can be reached at 303-954-1506 or dmigoya@denverpost.com.
