CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The annual Point-in-Time survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, aims to get a count of both sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a single day.
Salvation Army service manager Kyle Knutson oversees the Point-in-Time count in Corpus Christi.
"The idea of the point in time count is to spread awareness, engagement with the individuals who are living on the streets and in shelters, to try and find out resources, what they need, to get to know them," Knutson said. "It's really a cool thing to go out and get to know that population because a lot of times they're misunderstood."
While conducting the survey around the city, 70 volunteers carried bags with toiletries, snacks and resource guides to give to homeless individuals.
Knutson said the results of this survey can bring in federal funding to help the homeless population.
"It's just basic questions like 'How long have you been homeless?'," Knutson said. "Very simple questions and the idea is just to get a snapshot of the situation. It's no information as far as their identities or anything like that. It's really just to get a number of the homeless individuals that are out there on the streets and in our shelters."
Results from the survey could potentially help the city's homeless population in the same way the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs will be helping the Nueces Center for Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities.
Vanessa Morales with the MHID said it recently received over $270,000 from the department to provide services to those who are homeless or could potentially become homeless by helping with rent and utilities.
"It's very beneficial to the community that we provide for," Morales said. "It helps individuals who are not able to things themselves. When we receive the funds, we like to help all the individuals that we do work with and so, providing this type of assistance is even better just because it shows what we are able to do for our community, especially the homeless population."
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