For the second time, a yearly census to determine how many homeless people are living in El Paso County on a given night will hire helpers familiar with life on the streets to do the counting.

Debra Stilen will be among those conducting the Point in Time survey that begins Monday, a process required by the U.S. Department of Urban Housing and Development for communities to receive federal funding for programs and services for homeless people.

After 20 years of homelessness, Stilen entered transitional housing last year. She was ready. But many of her friends are not.

“What I find is a lot of them want to be counted, but people who are homeless are so used to being abused or bullied or negative aspects when it comes to anybody in an office,” she said. “Most of these people already know me, they know I was in their shoes and find it a little easier to talk to me. They’re my family.”

The team of homeless people who will look for transients for the census is doubling this year, from five to 10 or more, said Kristy Milligan, CEO of Westside CARES, a coalition of churches in town that provide services to homeless people.

The organization last year piloted the idea of asking homeless people to assist with the survey. It worked out so well, it’s not only continuing but also expanding, she said.

“They have access to the more remote camps that even people like me wouldn’t have,” Milligan said.

People also will be paid for their time and experience.

While Stilen said she’s grateful that the survey work will earn her some money, she’d do it even if she wasn’t compensated because she’s grateful to the organizations that helped her get to a better place.

“We believe it is critical to engage the populations who are impacted by homelessness as leaders and resources in solving homelessness,” Milligan said.

A volunteer force of more than 60 also will tally people living on the streets, in emergency shelters, in transitional housing, in their cars, in camps and other uninhabitable places, said Scott Correa, project specialist with Community Health Partnership.

For the past few weeks, the partnership, a nonprofit that does projects to improve the health and well-being of residents in the Pikes Peak region, and the Pikes Peak Continuum of Care, a network of homeless service agencies, have been recruiting and training volunteers.

Some are outreach workers, others are residents who want to pitch in.

They’ll also talk with people at the Marian House soup kitchen, libraries, bus stops and other places, asking where they spent the night of Jan. 21 and a few basic questions.

“That’s really the number HUD wants us to focus on — the number of unsheltered in our community,” Correa said.

Over the past five years, unsheltered people living in El Paso County decreased by 17%, from a high of 1,562 in 2019 to the 2023 count of 1,302, according to the data.

It’s important to remember, Correa said, that the survey provides just a snapshot in real time of the scope of homelessness.

Some people aren’t counted because finding every camp is difficult, organizers say, and others don’t want to participate in the voluntary tracking. Anyone who does take part in the census receives a thank-you bag with items such as socks, hand warmers, snacks and water.

The count is critical for the community to be awarded millions of dollars in federal funding.

Since 2012, El Paso County has received $2 million to $2.5 million in HUD aid each year, of which 80% is spent on permanent supportive housing, transitional housing or rapid rehousing programs, according to Community Health Partnership. The remainder funds systems that track people who use services.

“We go out and gather valuable information that helps us strategize about how to use limited resources in our community to address homelessness overall,” Correa said.

The Point in Time is essential, Milligan said, because “it gives us a baseline understanding of the challenges we face as a community around poverty and homelessness, and allows us to dedicate resources toward addressing those challenges.”

Each person counted deserves to be treated with respect and dignity, Milligan said, because each is a human being — a brother, a sister, a mother, a father, a child.

“Each of these people have unique circumstances and needs,” she said. “Understanding those needs begins with having a more accurate count of human beings who desperately need our help, so that together we can devise and support appropriate interventions to tackle not only the immediate need of shelter but also the longer-term need of opportunity.”

Organizations also collect data year-round on individuals, families, military veterans and teens who are homeless to match current needs with programs.

The big concern of the industry and among community leaders nationwide is the lack of affordable housing, Correa said. Once homeless people take the next step of entering transitional housing, which includes support such as a caseworker and goal setting, there is often a waiting list to join a program.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition reports that an annual household income of $66,830 is needed in Colorado to afford a two-bedroom rental home at HUD’s fair market rent, the amount a property can be expected to rent for on the open market, in line with similar units in the area.

“Homelessness is a symptom of broken systems; one of those broken systems is housing — how outrageously expensive it is,” Correa said.

Contact the writer: 719-476-1656.

Colorado Springs police Officer George Bosch and Jansen Howard with Homeward Pikes Peak cross a makeshift bridge during the 2020 Point in Time survey. This year’s count of the city’s homeless population kicks off on Monday.

Jerilee Bennett, Gazette file