Volunteers and community workers around North Dakota will operate boots-on-the-ground in the early hours of Wednesday, Jan. 24, in search of unsheltered individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

In Minot, a team of about six people will split into groups of two to hit the streets and approach individuals who may need assistance getting to a warming center or homeless facility, said Region 2 area lead Tesa Curtiss, transitional housing program case manager at Youthworks in Minot.

Every year, in an effort to address ongoing homelessness, the North Dakota Homeless Continuum of Care (ND CoC) conducts a Point-in-Time (PIT) Count to establish a comprehensive snapshot of individuals struggling with housing instability in the state.

ND CoC is a housing and urban development program that provides funding and promotes access and utilization of local nonprofit providers and state and local programs to quickly rehouse individuals and families experiencing, or are at risk of experiencing, homelessness. Curtiss said the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires ND CoC to conduct an annual PIT Count. She said the goal is to count sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals in a community to establish evidence for the need of additional funding. ND CoC takes a collaborative approach in obtaining numbers of sheltered individuals in any transitional living programs, emergency shelters or any institutional settings for homeless individuals.

In addition to Minot, PIT Counts also are conducted in Williston, Devils Lake, Grand Forks, Fargo, Jamestown, Bismarck and Dickinson to create a statewide census.

Curtiss said Minot workers will be out between 2-4 a.m., asking unsheltered individuals to complete a short survey that asks for basic demographic information, household size, their housing situation and if they need assistance. The workers and volunteers keep basic care items, snacks, blankets and hygiene items with them to offer to the unsheltered individuals. If individuals need help getting to a warming center or homeless facility, law enforcement is on call to provide transportation.

Curtiss also said ND CoC takes an observational count as well. This includes individuals they suspect may be homeless but don’t feel comfortable approaching and vehicles parked in 24/7 lots that appear to be housing individuals or families.

Curtiss suspects the unsheltered count will once again rise this year due to the temporary closure of the Project BEE shelter.

Shawnel Willer, coordinator for ND CoC, said statewide numbers have been increasing over the last five years. She attributed the growing numbers to COVID relief funding starting to end so housing assistance is running out. She said there are still individuals experiencing a housing crisis who are working full-time jobs, but with the price of housing increasing, affordable housing isn’t available.

Willer also noted an increase in chronic homelessness, which HUD defines as individuals who have experienced homelessness for 12 months or longer or have experienced four separate occasions of homelessness over three years that total 12 months or more. She also said there has been an increase of individuals struggling with substance use disorder, which is also contributing to the rise in chronic homelessness.

Willer reported the PIT Count for Region 2, the Minot area, in 2022 revealed 31 individuals in emergency sheltering and six unsheltered individuals. In 2023, the sheltered population took a slight dip to 29 while the unsheltered number grew to eight.

During the summer PIT Count in July 2023, ND CoC reported 12 sheltered and two unsheltered individuals in Minot.

“With the PIT Count, even though it’s one night and it is in January, the one thing that we know in North Dakota is that homelessness is very hidden. Just because we aren’t finding individuals sleeping outside doesn’t mean that they aren’t there. Especially because it’s January and it’s cold, a lot of individuals are finding a couch to sleep on. Some of them are going to be in unsafe situations just so they don’t have to be outside. North Dakota homelessness looks very different than what a place like Phoenix, or LA or Seattle does because it’s cold and people don’t want to be outside, so they’re finding places that maybe aren’t safe to be sleeping,” Willer said.

Willer said the PIT Count also determines the federal funding that North Dakota receives to help with homelessness. The ND CoC grant and the Emergency Solutions grant come from federal funding from HUD, for which North Dakota Housing Financing is the fiscal agent.

The information gathered also is used within the state to help advocate for funding for the North Dakota Homeless Grant.

“It tells the story of homelessness within our state,” Willer said of the PIT Counts’ importance to local communities within the state.