Last month the results of the 2024 Point in Time (PIT) Count, which are reported each year to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), showed a 27 percent increase from last year in the number of residents sleeping in emergency shelters, transitional housing or outdoors on the night of January 23.
Of the 407 residents counted in the annual survey, 234 were sleeping in emergency shelters, transitional housing or hotels paid for by charitable organizations, 82 people were in seasonal Code Blue shelters and 91 adults were sleeping outdoors or in other places not meant for human habitation.
For the eighth year in a row, the count identified no children sleeping outdoors.
Led by the Housing Link Street Outreach teams, staff and volunteers completed more than 275 surveys during their annual countywide count of residents experiencing homelessness.
The federally mandated PIT Count is conducted each year during the last week of January. The information gathered is then compiled by the Bucks County Department of Housing and Community Development and reported to HUD.
The growth in homelessness recorded in this year’s PIT Count includes a 67 percent increase in those experiencing long-term homelessness, which is also called chronic homelessness. Code Blue shelters, run by local faith-based organizations that rely almost entirely on volunteers, saw more than double the number of residents seeking shelter on the night of the count.
Credit: AHTN
In line with nationwide trends, Bucks County saw both a 42 percent rise in seniors 55 and older experiencing homelessness, as well as a 35 percent decrease in unhoused, unaccompanied youth ages 18-24.
This year’s increases in homelessness coincide with the expiration of pandemic-era federal funding aimed at stabilizing housing situations and preventing homelessness.
Among the programs funded by those federal dollars was the Bucks Emergency Rental Assistance Program (BERA), which helped more than 6,000 Bucks County households remain in their homes before it ended in April.
A social services provider working within the non-profit community based system told Lower Bucks Source the Bucks County Housing Authority recently issued a client they were supporting an Emergency Section 8 Voucher. A limited number of applications for Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHVs) are available to households working with the Housing Link, Bucks County’s Continuum of Care. In order to qualify, applicants must be homeless, fleeing abuse, assault, stalking or human trafficking or are in a Housing Link Program where an EHV voucher will prevent homelessness/housing instability. If you meet one of these criteria, contact Housing Link at 1-800-810-4434, according to the BCHA website.
The Section 8 Voucher program waiting list solely for non-elderly (under age 62) disabled individuals who qualify for HUD’s Mainstream Voucher Program, as follows: 1. Literally Homeless – living in places not meant for human habitation: on the street/in car, abandoned building, parks; emergency shelter or 2. Transitioning out of an institution or other congregate setting or 3. Living in housing that is funded by a public/private agency and the funding assistance is time-limited is taking applications. Please click here for more information.
The Housing Authority holds monthly meetings in Doylestown the third Tuesday of each month 7 pm at their office, 350 South Main Street, Suite 205. Here is a link for the Tuesday July 16 meeting.
A summary of the Bucks County 2024 PIT Count is available on the Housing Link website.
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