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Wilmington, North Carolina once had a thriving Black middle class and an elected interracial government. In 1898 white supremacists used violence to overthrow that government, kill Black residents and drive many others from the city.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
The Point-in-Time Count, or PIT Count, is an annual survey of homeless people in the United States conducted by local agencies called Continuums of Care (CoCs) on behalf of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).[1] HUD uses the data from PIT counts to evaluate the effectiveness of local agencies' efforts to address homelessness and to determine funding amounts for them, and also compiles this data into the Annual Homeless Assessment Report, which is provided to Congress.[2][1][3] HUD defines the PIT as a "count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons carried out on one night in the last 10 calendar days of January or at such other time as required by HUD."[3]
The PIT consists of an observational count and a survey of homeless people, the former to establish a sense of scale and the latter to estimate the number of individuals in various subcategories, like homeless veterans or homeless youth.[4]
Methodology varies slightly between CoCs, to allow them to adapt to their individual needs. Generally, though, the PIT consists of two parts: an unsheltered count and a sheltered count. Both are required to be conducted on a single night in the last ten days of January.[5] The sheltered count requires CoCs to collect information from emergency shelters, transitional housing, and safe havens. The unsheltered count is more difficult as it generally involves volunteers traveling to places where they expect people experiencing homelessness to be (under bridges, encampments, etc). Historically, the PIT count was conducted using pen and paper, but CoCs are increasingly adopting mobile and analytics technology like Hyperion and the Counting Us mobile app to make things easier.
A census like this risks undercounting the homeless population for several reasons. Census takers may not encounter some homeless people because they fail to go where those people are. Some homeless people may deny being homeless out of shame or because they fear government retaliation. Homeless people who are temporarily couch-surfing may not come to the attention of census takers. If the census takes place shortly after monthly financial assistance checks go out, some people who are often unsheltered may temporarily be able to afford motel rooms; they may be especially likely to take such a step in winter months when the point-in-time census takes place.[6]
The risk of undercounting can be greatly diminished through the increased utilization of Homelessness Management Information Systems (HMIS) to capture data from people experiencing homelessness who stay in emergency shelters, transitional housing, or safe haven projects. This data can be complemented with data gathered from mobile applications such as Show The Way so that street outreach providers and first responders can collect information from people experiencing unsheltered homelessness throughout the year. Once compiled together, the data from both can be used to generate an accurate "by-name list" of everyone who is experiencing homelessness in a community at any given point-in-time.
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The Point-in-Time Count, or PIT Count, is an annual survey of homeless people in the United States conducted by local agencies called Continuums of Care (CoCs) on behalf of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD uses the data from PIT counts to evaluate the effectiveness of local agencies' efforts to address homelessness and to determine funding amounts for them, and also compiles this data into the Annual Homeless Assessment Report, which is provided to Congress. HUD defines the PIT as a "count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons carried out on one night in the last 10 calendar days of January or at such other time as required by HUD." The PIT consists of an observational count and a survey of homeless people, the former to establish a sense of scale and the latter to estimate the number of individuals in various subcategories, like homeless veterans or homeless youth.
Maine has one of the highest per capita rates of homelessness of any state within the East Coast of the United States. This may be attributed to several factors, including social issues that are more prevalent within New England. Maine had 4,400 people experiencing homelessness according to a count done by MaineHousing, done in January 2022. This is over 0.3 per 100,000 residents, slightly higher than the 0.15% figure of Americans that experience a spectrum of homelessness. Nearly one-quarter of homeless individuals were under age 18, according to the survey. Almost half of households experiencing homelessness have at least one child. Some 3,291 people were sheltered during the state's point-in-time count, and the other 1,100 people were unsheltered. Most homeless people in Maine live in the Portland area. During the late 2010s and 2020s, homelessness arose in Maine, with tent cities being formed in the Greater Portland area. Many homeless resources in Portland are located in the Preble Street area, including the Florence House. The homeless population is disproportionately African American; 2% of Mainers are Black, whereas 47% of homeless people in Maine are Black. 48% are White, lower than the state's 92% White figure; 0.5% are Asian/Pacific Islander compared to Maine being 1.5% Asian, and the Native American homeless population is roughly the same as the general population (0.8 and 0.7% respectively). A figure for people of Hispanic ethnicity was not reported. 33% of Maine homeless are under 18, although the vast majority of this demographic take shelter in homeless shelters or transitional homes.
Homelessness is a serious issue throughout the state of New Mexico. Through a demographic examination it becomes evident that New Mexico has a high proportion of social groups that are currently and historically socioeconomically disadvantaged. Native Americans as a proportion of the US population represent the second highest amongst all States with only Alaska having a higher ratio, while it also has a large Hispanic population. Homelessness is a direct cause from an individual not being able to provide themselves with the most basic of necessities to maintain a healthy life hence having a higher proportion of individuals in poverty places a greater risk of an individual becoming homeless. New Mexico's homeless population is largely concentrated in Albuquerque, although homeless populations generally exist on a marginally lower scale in Santa Fe and Las Cruces. New Mexico's homeless population peaked in 2020, where it hit 3,300, roughly less than 0.2% of the state's population. This figure declined since then; however, statistics on homelessness are often inaccurate due to miscounts because of COVID-19, or the count being done in the wintertime, where fewer homeless are outside in public to be counted. Albuquerque’s homeless population is 2,740, around half a percent of the city’s population, from a 2024 count, though the NM Coalition to End Homelessness states in the Point In Time Count Report that this number is "certainly an undercount".
Homelessness in the United States has differing rates of prevalence by state. The total number of homeless people in the United States fluctuates and constantly changes, hence a comprehensive figure encompassing the entire nation is not issued, since counts from independent shelter providers and statistics managed by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development vary greatly. Federal HUD counts hover annually at around 500,000 people. Point-in-time counts are also vague measures of homeless populations and are not a precise and definitive indicator for the total number of cases, which may differ in both directions up or down. The most recent figure for 2019, was 567,715 individuals nationally that experienced homelessness at a point in time during this period. Homeless people may use shelters, or may sleep in cars, tents, on couches, or in other public places. Separate counts of sheltered people and unsheltered people are critical in understanding the homeless population. Each state has different laws, social services and medical policies, and other conditions which influence the number of homeless persons, and what services are available to homeless people in each state. A 2022 study found that differences in per capita homelessness rates across the country are not due to mental illness, drug addiction, or poverty, but to differences in the cost of housing due largely to housing shortages, with West Coast cities including Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles having homelessness rates five times that of areas with much lower housing costs, like Arkansas, West Virginia, and Detroit, even though the latter locations have high burdens of opioid addiction and poverty. The state by state counts of people listed below are derived from under-reported federal HUD statistics. In June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling which permitted cities to ban homeless camps, thus making it possible to jail people for sleeping in areas such as public parks.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Madam C.J. Walker