JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — On Tuesday morning, Changing Homelessness, Inc., will start its summertime count in Duval, Clay, and Nassau counties.
“More people will die from heat exposure and heat exhaustion. It is much more dangerous for human beings to be outside and unsheltered,” said Dawn Gilman, the CEO of Changing Homelessness.
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It’s the organization’s second count of the year for people experiencing homelessness in our area.
Over the next three days, more than 100 volunteers will identify people who are experiencing unsheltered homelessness.
”We are doing this and focusing each day on one county to really see who’s out there,” Gilman said.
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The volunteers will be able to use an app on their phone called Counting Us, and it’s how they count those experiencing homelessness in the area.
Once logged in, the survey asks several questions, and GIilman said the technology allows them to get the results faster.
“There’s a series of questions we ask them, starting with number one, ‘Are you willing to answer some questions for us?’ and then we start with, ‘Where did you spend last night?’” Gilman said.
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During the January count, volunteers found 1,247 people experiencing homelessness, 851 sheltered and 396 unsheltered or living on the streets, which was a small decrease from previous years.
Now this time around, Gilman expects the number of families experiencing homelessness to increase.
“We believe that everybody deserves a safe place that they can go into lock the door, prepare their food, clean themselves up, what we all do every night when we go into our home,” Gilman said.
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