Counting Heads: Numbers don’t reflect true homeless growth

Posted on by Listify Me

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MUNCIE — Hundreds of people aren’t visibly living on the city’s streets or sleeping in downtown alleys, but it’s impossible to deny a homeless population exists in Muncie. And it’s getting larger.

During Wednesday’s National Point-In-Time Homeless Count in Delaware County, close to 450 residents were listed as homeless, people who do not have a permanent place to live or a place to keep their belongings long-term.

Although the numbers are similar to last year’s count of 447 residents, there is still a dramatic increase in the homeless population.

Between 60 and 70 families could not be listed in the count because they’ve received assistance from Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program, a segment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus bill.

The state has asked agencies not to add those families to the official count, despite their status as transitional housing participants.

“Basically what this means is that the homeless number has increased, even though the count says it hasn’t,” said Susan Kemp from Bridges Community Services, the agency that coordinated the local homeless count and who monitors the local HPRP distribution.

If you add those 60-70 families who received assistance — but are still homeless today — the official number would be much higher.

But not all of the new homeless in Wednesday’s Delaware County count are longtime Muncie residents.

Although it will take some time to determine how many people are from outside of Muncie, social service agency leaders have noted an increase in people seeking help who aren’t from Muncie.

Chrystal McDuffie is from Baltimore, Md. She moved to Muncie “a few months ago” to continue a relationship that “did not work out.”

After she left her former boyfriend’s home, she had no place to stay. She lived at the Muncie YWCA for a while and then with friends. She has also stayed in abandoned houses “along with a whole bunch of people,” and eventually stayed in cars and whatever she could find to keep her warm.