parenting young adults

welcome to this webinar on the point-in-timecount unsheltered survey. my name is amy stetzel and i am the project manager with minnesota’soffice to prevent and end homelessness. my boss, cathy tenbroeke, and i have beenworking closely with all of the continuum of care coordinators across the state to preparefor this year’s point-in-time count. on behalf of all of us, thank you for yourtime and commitment to ensuring individuals, youth, and families experiencing homelessnessacross the state are identified and connected to the services they need to become stablyhoused. this webinar will give instructions, explanationsand some helpful tips in completing the point-in-time unsheltered survey.so, what is the point-in-time count? as the

video we just watched told us….the point-in-time count, or pit as i will usually refer to it, is one of the main way’swe measure homelessness in our state. it provides us with a snapshot of what homelessness lookslike across minnesota at one point in time. the federal government requires that eachstate attempt to count all people experiencing homelessness on one particular night of theyear. the federal government also requires that every state conduct their pit count withinthe last 10 days in january. this year, minnesota’s pit count is on thenight of thursday january 28, 2016. the pit count includes a count of people whoare living in unsheltered situations (those who are living outside, on the streets, inabandoned building, etc.) and of people who

are temporarily sheltered (those who are livingin emergency shelters, transitional housing programs, or put up in motels through a socialservice program). this webinar will focus on the unshelteredportion of the pit count. we do the pit count for a few different reasons…click 1) it helps us to understand the scope ofhomelessness and identify trends so we can better target our resources, improve services,and identify gaps in service. click 2) we use data to justify current and newservices and programs. data helps us tell our story and make the case for more resources.it helps build awareness, political will and political support ( at the local, state andnational level) to have the right programs

and services funded to meet the identifiedneed. click 3) it is a critical source of national dataon the number and characteristics of people who are homeless in the u.s.as we’ve already mentioned, the pit count is a federal requirement.additionally, the pit count is the main data source used for measuring national progressin meeting the goals in opening doors: the federal strategic plan to prevent and endhomelessness. and, pit count data is provided to congress on the general homeless populationand subpopulations of homeless persons, including veterans, families, chronically homeless individuals,and youth across the nation. click 4) data collected through the pit is usedas one of the main tools to measure progress

on our state’s heading home plan to planto prevent and end homelessness. the pit count is a state-wide effort led byour 10 continuum of care regions throughout the state.working together as a state is critical to achieve the goals of preventing and endinghomelessness for the families, youth and individuals who are experiencing (or are at-risk of experiencing)homelessness in minnesota. in alignment with the federal government,the state of minnesota is working towards the population goals of (read slide)and as noted before, the results from the pit count are how we as a state measure ourprogress towards achieving these goals. what’s new in 2016?star wars: the force awakens” has surpassed

“avatar” to become the top-grossing filmin north america. however, when inflation is factored in, “gonewith the wind” remains the highest-grossing film in history with $1.7 billion and thefirst “star wars” is runner-up with $1.5 billion. “star wars: the force awakens”is in 21st place behind classics (and two of my favorites) such as “the sound of music,”and “e.t.: the extra terrestrial” i’m sure what you’re saying right nowis “no, what’s new in 2016 for the pit count?”the biggest change to this year’s pit count is:an update to the definition of chronic homelessness; andveterans rapid response teams

both of which we will go over in more detaillater in the webinar additionally, some of you might remember thatlast year we were required to ask anyone who identified as transgender if they were “maleto female” or “female to male” transgender. we no longer will need to do that. if someoneidentifies as “transgender” you mark that category on the survey and do not have toask them any further details. (click) the same unsheltered survey tool willagain be administered across the state on the night of the pit count. this common surveytool was created in collaboration with all of the continuum of care coordinators in thestate. this common survey tool, will provide us with a strong foundation of data to workfrom to allow us to tell a better, more consistent

story of what homelessness looks like acrossall of minnesota by identifying trends and root causes from year to year, and allowingus to compare (for the first time!) differences in those stories between areas of the state(north vs south, metro vs greater mn) click minnesota will continue to focus on veteransin this years pit count by asking targeted questions, referring veterans to servicesthrough the veteran's registry, and linking veterans directly to housing options and resourcesusing rapid response teams. there will be much more detail on veterans coming up inthe webinar, so we’ll save more detail on this subject for later. clickyouth household information will again be collected for both parenting youth and unaccompaniedyouth under the age of 25. click

persons who report identification in at leasttwo race categories will be included in the “multiple races” category during dataanalysis. we have not included that answer as an option on the actual survey as therewas quite a bit of confusion on that piece last year.so, now lets dive into specifics about the unsheltered survey. clickread slide “……capturing the same data in the sameway.” is the critical part of this sentence. i’ve said this before and i’m going tosay it again “ using the same survey across the state allows us to tell a better, moreconsistent story of what homelessness looks like across all of minnesota by identifyingtrends and root causes from year to year,

and allowing us to compare differences inthose stories between areas of the state (north vs south, metro vs greater mn)** please refer to your coc coordinator or site director for direction on which formatto use in your region** the 3 formats are (click)the one page unsheltered survey (click) read slide (click)the two page unsheltered grid survey (click) read slide (click)the online tool (click)your coc coordinator has copies of the one-page and two-page unsheltered survey tools foryour use as well as the link to the online tool.again, all three formats are the same unsheltered

survey (same questions in the same order)– the difference is in how you administer the surveyit is up to each coc region to decide which format they would like their volunteers touse on the night of the count– your coc coordinator will provide direction to youon which of the survey formats you should use.alright - lets dive in and highlight some of the most important details to successfullycompleting the unsheltered survey! this webinar will not cover every question in the surveyas most of the questions are very straightforward. and many of the directions for completingthe survey, are written right on the survey tool itself. i have highlighted here thoseareas that are new or may require further

explanation.before we get going - please have an unsheltered survey in front of you so you can follow alongas you watch this webinar. getting started.as you know, first impressions can start any relationship off on good or bad footing. whenyou are having a short interaction with someone (that has the potential to ask very personalquestions), ensuring a positive first impression becomes even more important to get right.approach any respondent you come in contact with in the same way you would like to beapproached to complete a survey – click introduce yourself, explain what you are doing,be respectful of their answers and their time, and remember to speak clearly.you will notice that, as much as we could,

we have tried to write clear directions foradministering the survey right on the survey itself – including the initial (what i referto as “check”) questions. these ‘check’ questions are questions2-4 in the survey, and are referred to as “check” questions because the respondentsanswers to each of the questions determine whether or not you will continue asking themthe questions on the survey. these “check” questions help us to make sure that we areasking the right people the survey. you will notice that directions identifying which answerswould cause you to stop surveying someone are written right on the survey tool. clickquestion 2 asks if they will be sleeping outside tonight or have been staying temporarily withfamily or friends? (sleeping outside* can

mean sleeping on the street, in a vehicle,staying up all night, sleeping in an abandoned building, storage shed, fish house, or a homewithout functional utilities. or, any other place not meant for human habitation)** please note that while hud does not include being doubled up in their definition of homelessness,we as a state are interested in learning how many unsheltered people we come in contactwith that are staying temporarily with family and friends. questions later on in the surveywill help us separate those who are “doubled up” from those who are hud definition homeless.so, if they answer “no, they are not sleeping outside or staying temporarily with familyor friends” stop the survey. but, if “yes” clickquestion 3 asks if they are willing to participate

in a short survey. if they answer ‘no’,thank them for their time and stop the survey. but, if they answer “yes” they are willingto participate click ask if they have you already taken this survey.if ‘yes – they have already taken the survey” thank them for their time and stopthe survey. but, if “no, they have not already taken the survey” continue on to gatherthe required data for “question” #5 (first and last name initials and age)so, to sum it up, use the unsheltered survey if…read slide as i said before, the check questions makesure we are asking the right people the survey! the questions asking for initials and age areused to make sure we aren’t duplicating

information. some people may not want to giveyou their initials or age, and that’s okay. the important thing is that if they are willingto answer all the other questions on the survey. their answers to the survey questions aremuch more important than whether or not they want to provide us with their initials orage. ** if you cannot answer the check questionsor the identifying information because you don’t want to disturb someone who is sleepingor who may not be able to answer for a variety of reasons, you should use the unshelteredobservation tool to gather information on the person/people you are observing.please note: you may not be able to answer all of the questions on the observation tool– that’s okay! please just answer as many

questions as you are able to.your coc coordinator will provide you with the unsheltered observation tool.question #6 is “where are you sleeping the night of january 28, 2016?”read slide depending on when you survey someone duringthe count, you may have to adjust the language for this question just a bit.for example, if you are surveying someone at 5:30am the morning of friday january 29thyou should ask “where did you sleep last night (the night of january 28th, 2016)?”you will notice that the last box you are able to check for this question is “temporarilydoubled up with family or friends”. as i noted earlier in the webinar, hud does notinclude being doubled up in their definition

of homelessness but we as a state are interestedin learning how many unsheltered people we come in contact with that are staying temporarilywith family and friends. this question will allow us to us separate those who are “doubledup” from those who are hud definition homeless. question 8 in the survey asks about householdcomposition. let’s take a moment to review hud household composition definitions.we will first focus on adults, young adults and childrenan adult is any person who is age 25 and older, a young adult is any person age 18 through24, a child is a person age 0 through 17 who is living with a parent, guardian or caregiver.as we just reviewed, an adult is defined in the pit count as a person age 25 or olderand they can fall into 3 categories in the

pit count.single adults adult couplesadult headed families adult headed families are headed by 1 or moreadults age 25 or older and include children ages 0-17 or young adults ages 18-24the first box under question 8 refers to adults age 25+if you are surveying a single adult, adult couple or adult-headed family (where the headof household is age 25 or older) please select a household composition type from this boxthat most applies to the adult you are surveying’s situation.please note: single adult parents should be marked as an “adult headed family”. onlysingle adults without children should be marked

in the “single adult” category”youth is an umbrella term that refers to people age 0 through 24 who are living on their ownwithout a parent or guardian. youth may or may not have their own dependent children.the youth household composition category includes both:(click) parenting youth. (click) unaccompanied youtha parenting youth is (read slide) an unaccompanied youth is (read slide)as we just reviewed, a youth is defined as anyone age 0 through 24 who is living on theirown without a parent or guardian. youth living on their own without a parentor guardian fall into 1 of 2 categories in the pit countparenting youth (who are parenting dependent

children of their own); orunaccompanied youth these two categories are further broken downby age (parenting youth) and household type (unaccompanied youth)please take a look at the second box located under question 8 on your survey.if you are surveying a parenting or unaccompanied youth under the age of 25, please select ahousehold composition type from this box that most applies to the youth you are surveying’ssituation. parenting youth can be parenting young adults(ages 18-24) or parenting minors (under age 18). please note the number of children inthe parenting youth family you are surveying. please select the household composition typethat most applies to the unaccompanied youth

under the age of 25 that you are surveying:single youth youth coupleor a group of unaccompanied youth presenting as a householdquestion 9 ask respondents their age. please indicate which age range (under 18, 18-24or 25+) the respondents age falls into. if the respondent does not know their age orrefuses to provide that information, please choose the “don’t know/refused” answeroption. question 10 asks respondents to identify theirgender in one of the following three categories: male, female or transgenderquestion 14 asks about ethnicity. ethnicity options are hispanic/latino or non-hispanic/non-latino.an ethnicity should be reported for all individuals.

question 15 asks respondents to identify theirrace from a list of options. race options are american indian or alaska native, asian,african, black or african american, native hawaiian or other pacific islander, and white.at least one race should be reported for each individual.please note - if the respondent identifies at least 2 specific race categories they willautomatically be included in the multiple races category when we do our data analysis.all of these age, gender, ethnicity and race categories are categories determined by hud.questions 12 and 13 are asked to determine whether someone is chronically homeless.someone is determined to be “chronically homeless” if….they are an individual orfamily who has a disability and (a) has been

homeless for one year or more or (b) has beenhomeless on four or more occasions in the last three years where the combined lengthof time homeless in those occasions is at least 12 months.the words highlighted in orange on your screen is a new addition to the chronically homelessfederal definition this year, and you will see questions in your unsheltered survey to get at this information.questions 19 and 20 ask questions regarding disabling conditions click clickthese questions help us understand the many health barriers faced by those experiencinghomelessness as well as providing us with the disability information we need for thechronically homeless definition. the next section of the survey is on veterans.as you probably know, minnesota has committed

to end veteran homelessness. that is enshrinedas one of the priorities of our state’s heading home plan. since 2010, veteran homelessnesshas decreased by 54% in minnesota, but we have more work to do. the point-in-time countis the critical vehicle for measuring our progress on this goal.let me say a word about why we are focusing so intently on veteran homelessness. first,there is a clear moral imperative to ensure that those who have risked their lives forthe nation we call home have a home of their own to go to. what is significant about veteranhomelessness is that this moral imperative has motivated tremendous efforts in the privatesector and at every level of government. put another way, veterans are the one populationwhere the resources dedicated to solving the

problem are actually scaled at a level thatwe can solve the problem. that makes the need to reliably document ourefforts even more important, so that we can show that when the right resources are available,we can end homelessness for every veteran and indeed, for everyone.thanks to a collaboration of many organizations all across the state, we’ve made remarkableprogress on this goal. starting with last year’s point-in-timecount, when veterans experiencing homelessness all across the state began joining the homelessveteran registry. we have a better understanding than every before of the specific needs andchallenges that veterans who remain homeless face.this graph shows our current progress on the

goal. as you can see, in 2015, we housed moreveterans than we found during the point-in-time count a year ago, but there are still 265veterans we now know by name who still need a housing solution.for over 100 of these veterans, we have a housing plan in place: a way to pay rent,and access to ongoing support. for most of these veterans, the remaining challenge isfinding a willing landlord, and our registry team is actively working with these veteranson that challenge. for the remaining 157 veterans, we still needa housing plan. that’s were a new approach to this year’s point-in-time count comesin. to help us reach the goal, especially forthose veterans without a housing plan, we’re

approach the point-in-time count a littledifferently this year. the gist is that we want to make sure thatwe find every veteran we can, and when we do, that we make sure that every veteran ison a path to housing. we will do this by connecting veterans, inreal time, with a housing planner, using the linkvet hotline.linkvet will confirm that they are a veteran, determine whether they are on the registryand whether they have a housing plan. if they are a veteran but don’t have a housingplan, we’ll connect them in real time with a housing planner.this will look a little differently for the twin cities and greater minnesota.in the twin cities, we’re setting up the

cedar street national guard armory as an emergencyshelter location. there will be a warm meal, a warm bed, and staff on hand who can workwith the veteran to develop a housing plan and help them access other benefits.when a veteran is found, drivers will be dispatched to the veteran’s location. we ask that pitcount staff or volunteers wait with the veteran until the driver arrives.veterans who choose not to come will be invited to join us for a warm meal the following day.in greater minnesota, we’re approaching this primarily over the phone. the basic ideais the same: over the phone, veterans can get connected with a housing planner. if thepit count staff or volunteer can lend the veteran their phone, great. if not, veteranscan call the hotline anytime through noon

the following day to be connected in real-timewith a housing planner. the most important piece of information isthis: whenever a veteran is found, call the linkvet hotline and they will guide you fromthere. linkvet will be available starting at 3am on jan 28. they can be reached at 888-linkvetor 888-546-5838. for the purposes of this pit unsheltered survey,we will treat any adult over age 18 who answers yes to either of the first two veteran questionsas a potential veteran. those questions are: 1. did you serve in the united states armedforces, which includes the army, air force, marine corps, and coast guard?2. did you serve on active duty, or in the national guard or reserves?if the veterans you identify are not already

on the registry, we need them to sign a registryapplication, available at the web address shown here.please turn in all of your completed release forms to your coc coordinator or site leader.all release forms should be turned into a coc coordinator within 24 hours after theevening of the pit count. coc coordinators will fax in all completed release forms tolinkvet at 218-346-2338. remember, these forms contain personal, identifying information,so please treat them accordingly and with care.if a respondent answers yes to either veteran question but does not want to talk to a housingplanner and does not want to join the registry, please ask them back-up questions on the unshelteredsurvey tool.

again, all of the directions for these questionsare written right on your unsheltered survey tool.read slide while the pit count provides us with the number of thoseexperiencing homelessness on a given night in our state, it is not just about countingpeople. it is also about making sure the right amountof resources are provided to connect people to the services they need. and, on the nightof the count it may mean connecting people you come in contact with to services theyneed that night. i’d like to tell you a brief story of awoman named fern.

this is a picture of fern. as you can see,fern looks like the stereotypical picture of someone who many people think will alwaysbe homeless. her hunched over body language sends the message that she wants to be leftalone – she looks very isolated and cut-off. she is very self-protecting – you can’ttell if she is a man or a woman. all of her belonging are packed and hanging on the cartnext to her. well, a street outreach worker in hennepincounty met fern and started working with her, and less than a year later clickthis was fern. this is a picture of fern and the street outreach worker, joseph, who mether, got to know her, and together they worked so that in less than a year fern was a muchdifferent person than the woman who’d been

living on the streets a year prior. she washoused, healthy and safe. if you come across someone who needs helpon the night of the count, here are some resources for you to connect with.your coc coordinator – have the phone number of your coc coordinator on hand. they knowall of the resources available in your region and will be able to connect you with the informationand resources you need. street outreach teams – not all regionshave street outreach teams, but know if your region does and, if so, make sure you havetheir contact information with you on the night of the count.day one hotline: day one is a statewide network of domestic violence, sexual assault, humantrafficking, youth-and community-advocacy

programs in minnesota. day one hosts the statewidecrisis hotline that connects callers to the nearest service or agency in their geographicunited way 211 - -united way 2-1-1 provides free and confidential health and human servicesinformation, and covers the entire state. 211 call centers are staffed 24/7 by trainedinformation and referral specialists who quickly assess needs and refer callers to the helpthat they seek senior linkage line - the senior linkage lineâ®is the minnesota board on aging's free statewide information and assistance service. the seniorlinkage lineâ® service is provided by six area agencies on aging that cover all 87 countiesof minnesota and helps connect you to local servicesvets link -online support is available seven

days a week for minnesota veterans and theirfamilies. linkvet is staffed by a team of support specialists trained through the minnesotadepartment of veterans affairs (mdva).last but certainly not least…..dress warm, have fun and thank you!