While the total number of homeless people in Red Deer has decreased since 2016, the number of people accessing emergency shelters has gone up.

This according to the Point in Time (PIT) homeless count, which is a nationally and provincially coordinated survey of the homeless population within a community.

Acting Social Planning Manager for the City of Red Deer Tricia Hercina says more people accessing emergency shelters is a good thing, as they have better access to resources.

“The shift in the community that we’ve seen is more significant use of our shelters and less folks sleeping rough on the streets. So that would be folks that are in places that aren’t meant to be for human habitation, so on park benches, back alleys, things like that. When they are in the shelters, they are connected with the system which is great, and we know that they know where to find that support, which is also a great thing for our community.”

Hercina says this survey was just a snapshot of one night, but between them and their community partners, they are monitoring this vulnerable population throughout the year and are always looking at ways to make improvements.

“When we come to points in our programing and funding where there’s opportunity to make changes in our pogroms, what we take a look at is if the programs we’re delivering right now are matching the needs of those in our community. So this PIT information will be included in that consideration, to make sure that we’ve got the right matches as far as programing, and housing supports, and support services levels, to the types of service needs that our community is needing.”

The PIT homeless count is done every couple years, and utilizes a whole crew of 180 volunteers and about 25 organizations to hit the streets for the count, and is useful in planning future housing and support service needs.

144 individuals were said to be homeless in the city this year, down from 149 in 2016, with visits to emergency shelters increasing by 11.7% over the same time period.

The number of unsheltered individuals, meaning people who spend the night on the street and not in emergency shelters, was cut almost in half since 2016, with 48.6% less rough sleepers on the streets.