On January 29th, 2025, BEDS will be participating in the Alliance to End Homelessness’ 2025 Point in Time (PIT) count, a one-night snapshot of people experiencing homelessness in suburban Cook County. The PIT count is a national event, and other Continuums of Care (CoCs) throughout the country will be doing the same with sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness in their regions. In Illinois, 18 other CoCs will join the effort.
How Will This Work?
Our Linda Sokol Francis Summit Service Center will serve as a dispatch site for our southern and western communities. Staff, volunteers, and representatives from other homeless services organizations will split into teams of three to canvass area homeless shelters and locations where people living homelessness often stay. The results will determine how much federal funding we and other suburban Cook County homeless service agencies receive and inform regional strategies to reduce and end homelessness.
Who We’re Looking For
People living outdoors stay in parks, benches, vehicles, storefronts, parking garages, bridges, viaducts, abandoned homes and buildings, and forest preserves. These individuals often have serious mental/behavioral health conditions and/or histories of chronic homelessness (having been homeless for a year or more – or repeatedly over a three-year period – with a concurrent disability). While they are the most visible people experiencing homelessness, they can be the most difficult population to reach.
What We Do
Our volunteers and staff do not count these individuals and move on, they offer food, basic supplies, and information about our and our partners’ services. A pair of gloves goes a long way in building trust with people living outdoors when temperatures are falling to end of January lows. Our Street Outreach team makes follow-up visits to newly identified people experiencing homelessness and connects them to our housing and supportive services.
What We’ll Learn
The 2024 Suburban Cook County Point in Time count presented a stark picture of homelessness in our communities. It found 754 people experiencing homelessness in the Southwest Suburbs, including 95 unsheltered individuals. This was a 13 percent increase in the overall homeless population and a 58 percent increase in unsheltered individuals. We need to see if this surge has continued and who drives the continued growth. Then we can develop strategies to help them return to housing.
How You Can Help
The Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County coordinates the regional Point in Time count.
Volunteer to join the effort.
We’ll be convening at the Linda Sokol Francis Summit Service Center (7666 W. 63rd Street, Summit, IL 60501) at 6:30 PM on January 29th, 2025. Staff and volunteers will split into groups of three and receive a list of “hot spots.” From 7:00 PM to 1:00 AM, they will visit these designated areas and account for any people experiencing homelessness.
If you can’t make it, please consider a financial donation, in-kind gift, or volunteering in another role. As always, thank you for your support of people experiencing homelessness in our communities.