FORT SMITH -- Area organizations and volunteers counted homeless people in Fort Smith on Thursday as part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's national annual survey known as the Point in Time count.
The 2023 Point in Time count found roughly 653,100 people -- about one out of every 500 people in the United States -- were experiencing homelessness, an increase of 12% or 70,642 people from the 2022 count. Six in 10 of those counted as homeless were experiencing sheltered homelessness, meaning they were in an emergency shelter, transitional housing or a safe haven program.
The results showed Arkansas had 2,609 people counted as homeless last year, a 6% increase from 2022, but a 32% decrease from when the count was first done in 2007.
Arkansas had the second largest decrease in percentages or real numbers in the nation of the number of unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness at 95, for a 37.8% decrease.
Fort Smith continuum of care organizations Riverview Hope Campus, Next Step Day Room, Salvation Army, Community Rescue Mission and outreach volunteers have contributed to the count for several years now.
Continuums of care are local planning bodies responsible for coordinating the full range of homelessness services in a geographic area.
Chris Joannides, executive director of Hope Campus, said Fort Smith's count last year was around 443, an increase from the 376 counted in 2022. He said organizations participating in the count have an app that surveys each homeless person they encounter. The survey asks the participant where they slept the night before and whether it was in Fort Smith; how long they've been in Fort Smith; their name, age, race and gender; whether they have any mental health issues or physical disabilities; whether they have HIV or AIDS; and if they're a domestic violence survivor.
The data collected will be downloaded from the app and sent to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, "and then basically what we do with it is try to look for trends," he said.
"I personally feel that our unsheltered homeless population has probably risen," Joannides said. "We don't have enough affordable housing. We've got inflation curving up, and it's causing people to become homeless. So that would be an indicator for us that if we want to try to address it, we need to find more avenues for affordable housing."
Joannides said it is the local organizations' hope that the Department of Housing and Urban Development takes the data from the count and provides money to incentivize affordable housing in the area.
A press release from the department Dec. 15 states the rise of homelessness in 2023 continued a prepandemic trend from 2016 to 2020, when homelessness also increased. It said the department's data indicate the rise in overall homelessness is due to a sharp rise in people becoming homeless for the first time.
Between federal fiscal years 2021 and 2022, the number of people who became newly homeless increased by 25%, even as the number of people who exited homelessness to permanent housing increased by 8%, the press release stated.
The rise in first-time homelessness is likely attributable to a combination of factors, including recent changes in the rental housing market and the winding down of pandemic protections and programs focused on preventing evictions and housing loss.
Janet Renwick, a Hope Campus board member, said she wanted to help with the count and at the organization because there's so many people who live on the edge of becoming homeless. She said she was amazed there are all ages of people experiencing homelessness, some of whom have been homeless for years and others who are newly homeless.
"If we closed the hospitals, we'd still have sick people," she said. "If we didn't have services, we'd still have homeless people; we'd just see them in a different way. So by providing them services, we're helping them get back in to solving some of their problems."
Patrick Marris, outreach coordinator at Hope Campus and someone who just got out of homelessness last year after six years, said he sees the importance of the count because it lets organizations like Hope Campus know what's going on in their area and how to best help people get back on their feet.
"We have all kinds of situations, all kinds of things that people go through," he said. "And where these problems stem, they stem from abuse from parents, from difficulties during our childhoods. People want to change. They want permanent housing. They want to live a life. They want to get a job. It's just a pit. People get stuck in these situations, and it's hard to get out of."
The 2024 Point in Time count numbers should be released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in a couple months.
Keley Simpson conducts a survey Thursday with a person experiencing homelessness in Fort Smith at The Next Step Day Room in the city. Simpson is a board member for Next Step and was conducting surveys for the national Point in Time count. The count provides a snapshot of the number of homeless people on a specific day throughout the nation and is used to measure progress in combating homelessness. Visit rivervalleydemocratgazette.com/photo for today's photo gallery. (River Valley Democrat-Gazette/Caleb Grieger)