On Wednesday, January 29, teams from CHD and other community partners will be surveying the streets of Chicopee and Holyoke to see how many people in those cities are unsheltered. Those figures, combined with a census of individuals staying in emergency shelters and transitional housing—information taken by local providers—will be reported to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for its annual homelessness count.

HUD, in turn, will use the data from these “point-in-time” counts on January 29 across the US for its annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress. The purpose is to gain an understanding of the number of people homeless in our country on a single night—as well as some basic characteristics of these individuals.

Chicopee and Holyoke police officers will assist in this effort.

“This information is compiled every year to influence policymakers, state and local governments, researchers, and service providers,” said Christy O’Brien, senior division director of CHD’s Division of Diversion, Shelter, and Housing.

In addition to gathering data, CHD and other outreach workers use the count as an opportunity to engage individuals and distribute items for emergency needs. These include hygiene kits, socks, backpacks, handwarmers, food, flashlights, and wearable items to protect them from the elements. “Importantly, teams will also distribute information on how to access various community providers for housing assistance, medical and mental health care, and substance use care,” said O’Brien. “It will prove to be an incredibly important and fulfilling community event.”

Like last year, CHD’s Division of Diversion, Shelter, and Housing and its community partners are facilitating this point-in-time count on behalf of the Springfield-Hampden County Continuum of Care, the federally funded collaborative responsible for responding to homelessness in the region. The count collects basic demographic information (age, gender, race, ethnicity, veteran status, presence of a disability) and some questions which help identify need for services. These questions relate to mental illness, substance use, HIV status, and domestic violence, as well as whether a person experiences chronic homelessness.

No individual or identifying information from the count is made public. HUD’s report for the 2024 count can be found here.