Housing Solutions Prepares For Annual Survey Of People Experiencing Homelessness In Tulsa County

Housing Solutions is recruiting volunteers for the annual count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness in Tulsa County.

The count is called Point-in-Time or PiT and will take place Jan. 27 and 28. They are conducted across the country during the last week of January to get an accurate comparison among communities.

Volunteers and outreach professionals will conduct brief surveys across the county, which will evaluate the needs of the area's homeless population.

“This count informs all of our strategies to make homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring in Tulsa County,” said Becky Gligo, Housing Solutions executive director. “We get to see where Tulsa is progressing, such as recent declines in veterans experiencing homelessness, or where Tulsa needs additional support.

“Overall, we’ve seen homelessness increase in major cities across the country since the pandemic began, and Tulsa is no different,” Gligo said. “The PiT Count is critical to understanding the patterns and trends in homelessness not just in Tulsa but across the nation.”

The nationwide data guides federal spending, such as the $5.3 million Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project grant that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded Tulsa in October, Housing Solutions said. 

In addition to outreach teams, each shelter provider, including transitional housing, bridge housing and safe-haven providers, conducts a survey with every person who slept in their facility.

The 2022 PiT Count found 1,063 individuals, including children, experiencing homelessness in Tulsa, according to Housing Solutions.

Housing Solutions said of those, 8 percent were veterans, 38 percent were unsheltered, 55 percent reported a personal history of incarceration and justice involvement, 67 percent reported having a disabling condition, and 86 percent reported first experiencing homelessness in Oklahoma.

“This is a community-wide effort to reach each and every person in Tulsa County experiencing homelessness,” Gligo said. “The count isn’t just about data. The PiT Count is the basis for a relationship between Tulsans with housing and Tulsans without. Our strategic work the rest of the year builds on that relationship and places people on a path toward housing.” 

Click here to sign up for remaining volunteer slots.