This year, about two dozen Irving volunteers and police officers partnered up and fanned out across the city to get a glimpse into the state of homelessness in their community.
They hit the pavement for the Point-in-Time, or PIT, Count, an annual nationwide survey capturing the number of people in shelters and on the streets on a single night. Count data go to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to track trends and determine funding for programs addressing homelessness.
One volunteer, Cindy Barrows, had done this work before.
“The reason I do it is because they're the invisibles and we need to take care of them,” she said.
Her sentiments echoed those of Sarah Kahn, CEO of regional nonprofit Housing Forward.
“These are our neighbors with a story, with a history, with a future,” Kahn said. “It's really important to remember that the streets should never be the end of someone's story.”
Irving volunteers conducted surveys with unhoused people that captured their age, gender, race and living situation, among other factors. Some questions were more personal than others, like whether the person was fleeing domestic violence or had a history of substance misuse.
Tommy Hudson agreed to take the survey. He said he had been homeless since 2019 and had several medical issues.
“Two years ago, I had to get my foot amputated because of being out in the cold,” he said. “So, I've been dealing with that, and then I've had a bad knee and a bad hip, courtesy of that, you know, overcompensating.”
“It's just getting worse, like I'm falling apart. I feel like Humpty Dumpty,” Hudson said.
But Hudson still looked ahead to the future, saying that he had a goal of getting back into running this year. Although he said he never expected to become homeless, he appreciated the experience.
“You meet some decent people out here and it's just a situational thing,” he told KERA. “When the situation improves, then things can change.”
At the end of the night, volunteers returned to Irving City Hall to submit materials, debrief and say goodbye to those they’d spent the last few hours working alongside.
Anthony Alexander, one of the Irving Police officers who served as a driver, said he was surprised and glad to have encountered less people than he expected.
“I think that means something is going right and hopefully that trend continues,” Alexander said.
Got a tip? Email Andy Lusk at alusk@kera.org.
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