Volunteers gather data on homeless in effort to find ways to help

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The annual Point-in-Time Count: Everybody Counts in Charlotte is critical because it’s the only way to understand the scope of homelessness in the community and use that information to find ways to help.

[Get involved with Everybody Counts Charlotte in 2019]

Volunteers also go to soup kitchens, shelters and camps to identify people experiencing homelessness.

Last year, 1,688 people were counted. That included 167 families, 77 youths and 209 people sleeping outside in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County.

[Some benches removed outside Discovery Place amid concerns about homeless population]

The information collected Wednesday night and Thursday morning will be very helpful to city-and-county-elected leaders, who will have a better idea about how homelessness is affecting people in our communities and how to work toward ending or preventing homelessness.

Volunteers wrapped up their count for the night around 12:30 a.m. Thursday and then resumed at 4:30 a.m.

On a cold January morning in uptown Charlotte, volunteers with a list of questions asked Laksha Hope, "Easiest place to find you on a daily basis?"

"I'll be at the Wells Fargo bank," she said.

In a city full of transplants, Hope is one of the few locals who have history in the city.

She was born and raised in Charlotte, and at 38 years old, she never dreamed she'd be sleeping on the streets of her hometown.

"When I lost everything, I didn't have anyone to depend on, so that's why I'm out here," Hope said.

When Hope lost her job, she also lost her apartment.

When volunteers found her Thursday morning, she was sleeping at the Transit Center.

Her story is like so many other stories on Charlotte's streets.

“Bottom line is, we don’t have enough affordable housing in our community. The solution to homelessness and people who are facing housing instability is housing," said Courtney Morton, Mecklenburg County homeless resource coordinator.

Morton is one of the workers who walked the streets of uptown to count the homeless.

The government requires the headcount every year to determine how much funding the county needs for homeless programs.

Volunteers with the county also ask homeless people additional questions to figure out how to best help them.

In Hope's case, she told Channel 9 there aren't enough resources for single women like her who don't have children.

"You try to go for help, but it’s not like you are getting the resources that you need. Why is there one women's shelter? Why not have two or three?" she asked.

Hope said she left the women's shelter in north Charlotte after she was sexually assaulted.

Now, she searches the streets for a safe place to sleep.

It's her new, hard reality, but on the cold January morning, as volunteers passed out winter hats and hand heaters, the warm, kind gestures helped remind homeless people that there is still hope.

If you want to help our homeless neighbors, you can learn which resources you can get involved with by clicking on this resource guide: https://www.wsoctv.com/affordable-housing-crisis.

The numbers for 2019 will be released in a couple months.

Cox Media Group