Greene County sees increase in homeless count
GREENE COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) – The Appalachian Regional Coalition on Homelessness has conducted its annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count, determining how many people in the region are experiencing homelessness.
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According to last year’s PIT count, Greene County had 26 people experiencing homelessness. Twenty of those people were staying in emergency shelters and six had no home at all.
This year’s data show that the total has increased to 81 people: 25 in emergency shelters and 56 living without a home.
The C.A.R.E Center in Greeneville is one organization working to help those experiencing homelessness in the area and they say that the PIT count numbers this year were lower than the reality.
“I believe there’s probably about 150 homeless people and families altogether,” said Ismael Castro, co-founder of the C.A.R.E Center. “Not just individuals, but families also.”
PIT count in Greene County higher than last year
Finding an accurate number of the homeless population can be tricky. The Appalachian Regional Coalition on Homelessness (ARCH) uses a volunteer effort and different organizations in the community that help the homeless to get a count of the total population.
This year ARCH started the PIT count in January but Mike Tucker with the C.A.R.E Center said he feels like a more accurate count of the homeless population could be done if it was conducted during a different time of the year.
“The true story is really what you see out, that total was gathered in January when the weather was bad,” Tucker said. “If you want a true count, do it on May first.”
The PIT count includes those living in shelters, cars, or tents but it doesn’t include those who are living on couches, something that can be hard to determine. Castro said he believes the number is higher than what was counted based on what he sees at the C.A.R.E Center.
“People that sleep on couches nobody counts,” Castro said. “Since we’ve been here, we have learned that there is more than just the 82 from the PIT count.”
Tucker said he has seen the increase in homeless people every day.
“I know here, for example, we have seen four new people just this week and today’s Wednesday,” said Tucker.
When the PIT count was conducted, the C.A.R.E Center was just getting started but Castro said he hopes that next year the Center can be a part of the count so they can show the number of homeless people they see coming into the shelter.
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