Cape Cod Times: Homelessness Reaches New High for Cape, Vineyard, and Nantucket in One-Night Count
Kalie Walker, Special to Cape Cod Times
The number of homeless people on Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard has increased since last year to its highest figure in 10 years, according to the annual point-in-time count released in early June.
In total, the number of homeless increased to 568 people, 141 more than last year.
Within that total of 568, the number of unsheltered adults increased, and the number of sheltered individuals decreased. Warm weather could be a factor in the increase in unsheltered adults, according to Daniel Gray, program manager with the Barnstable County Human Services Department, the agency that conducts the count.
The annual one-night count was conducted on Jan. 23.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development expects the count to be conducted in a particular way, said Gray.
“Which we know across the entirety of the United States, it’s an undercount of those that are experiencing housing instability,” he said.
The county Human Services Department is the lead agency in the region of the HUD Continuum of Care program. The program is designed to assist individuals and families who are homeless. The Cape Cod and Islands Continuum of Care program received $2.4 million from HUD, according to an announcement in February.
Conducting the point-in-time count is part of the Continuum of Care program.
Read the article in its entirety at the Cape Cod Times.
