SALT LAKE CITY — Utahns are hitting the streets well before dawn and in sub-freezing temperatures, all to determine how many people are unsheltered in Salt Lake County.
The annual Point in Time (PIT) count is happening later this week. There was a training session Monday night for the volunteers who make it happen.
It was the first time in five years that they’ve had the PIT count training in person, and it was a full house at the Salt Lake County complex. Dozens and dozens of people will be fanning out across Salt Lake County this week to determine how many people are living on our streets.
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The volunteers included young people still in college — like Justine Nicholson, who is a student at the University of Utah.
“I think that it’s super important for me to go and actually see it, in real life, how many people there are. Especially, I got to do it in an area that’s right next to where I grew up," Nicholson said.
It also included those who were, at one time, without a place to call home themselves. People who have overcome addiction and homelessness and are now helping the unsheltered — like Steffine Amodt.
“It’s important to have an accurate count — for funding, for policy-making," Amodt said. "My passion is policy-making, so having good data points is important, understanding the populations that are living currently unsheltered in our state.”
And those who have served our country but then wound up unsheltered, like Marine veteran Steven Robison.
“Not all homeless are the same. I know there is a stigma with that, but there’s different reasons people are homeless, so if we don’t know those different reasons, we can’t attack each individual reason to figure out how to help the community," Robison said.
Katie Zimmerman is the volunteer coordinator for the PIT count in Salt Lake County.
“It warms my heart every single year, honestly, to see the volunteers that show up to do this," she said.
This is Zimmerman’s ninth year. She says this is much more than a job.
“As humanity, as a people, as Utahns, as Salt Lake County, we need to remember every single person that lives within our borders — especially those that are experiencing unsheltered homelessness," she said. "This is a way to help people say, 'You’re seen, you’re counted, you matter, your opinion matters, your lived experience matters.'”
The happens this Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 4:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. You can learn more and sign up to volunteer HERE.
