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Point-in-Time count planned Jan. 22 in Dickinson County

IRON MOUNTAIN — The Salvation Army Bread of Life Assistance Center will conduct the annual Point-in-Time count for Dickinson and Iron counties on Tuesday, Jan. 22.

The local count, which is part of a federally mandated national count, provides the homeless assistance community with data needed to understand the number and characteristics of people who are homeless at one point in time while also taking a snapshot of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness throughout Dickinson and Iron counties, giving a head count that will help track progress on efforts to end homelessness.

Those in the unsheltered count are individuals and families with a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings, including a car, park, abandoned building, bus or train, airport or camping ground on the night of the count, which will be between midnight Jan. 22 until 11:59 p.m. the next day.

Also included in the count are those individuals or families who fit the criteria of sheltered count. This includes living in a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangement — including congregate shelters, transitional housing, and hotel and motels paid for by charitable organizations or by federal, state or local government programs for low-income individuals — on the night indicated above.

Those staying with family and friends — “doubled-up” or “couch surfing” — or residing in institutions such as jails, juvenile correction facilities, foster care, hospital beds or detox centers are not included in the count.

Salvation Army staff and its volunteers will canvas the streets in an attempt to count every unsheltered homeless person in Dickinson and Iron counties. The community is asked to contact the Salvation Army at 906-779-5717 if they are aware of any location an individual or family is using as a shelter that fits the criteria.

For those experiencing a housing crisis, or to help those who may identify this as a need, the community is asked to adhere to the proper process, which is to have the individual contact the Housing Assessment and Resource Agency at 1-800-562-9762, ext. 207, the area’s centralized intake and housing assessment, to better assure a comprehensive, community-wide service and housing delivery system.

This will help connect individuals and families in crisis with the HARA’s employed housing resource specialist, who not only works to ensure rapid rehousing but also develops a culture that teaches and makes decisions based on outcomes.

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