How many people are homeless in Medford? A count is happening tonight

Volunteers will be out tonight in Medford for the Point in Time (PIT) Count to determine how many people in the city are experiencing homelessness and to find out why.

Medford Social Services Coordinator Jason Stone said he expects 15 or 16 volunteers will be broken up into five teams to canvas the city starting at 10 p.m. tonight, Wednesday, Jan. 28.

Stone said the program is administered by Housing and Urban Development (HUD) at the federal level. At the state level, the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC), coordinates the count.

The state, he said, is broken up into ”continuum of care” zones. Bigger cities, like Boston, have their own continuum of care zone. They have their own street outreach staff and funding for shelters.

“We fall under the ‘balance of state’ continuum of care,” he said, which is a large territory.

“My thinking is that if we consistently show that there are a regular, and unfortunately I think growing, number of folks who are unhoused in our area,” Stone said, “then maybe that does position us for more funding or more services.”

It could also potentially lead more nonprofits to open up in the area to provide services for the unhoused.

“This is really the way to demonstrate that there is a need,” he said.

Boots on the ground

Boston Action Community Development (ABDC), Stone said, will be coordinating tonight’s count.

“Their Malden office handles a lot of homelessness prevention and homeless outreach in our area,” he said. “They’re the ones running the PIT Count for Malden, Medford, Everett, because that’s the three communities they work in. We’re essentially assisting them because I feel like it’s an important thing for the city to be a good partner in situations like this.”

In a city of an estimated 60,000 people, how can 15 or 16 volunteers cover all the area? Stone said he has a sense of the spots where people tend to camp or live in their cars, and that gives him a better idea of where to send the teams.

In addition, he said, his office has been communicating with first responders, including Medford police, state police, and Cataldo, to gather information.

Volunteers are meeting at 9 p.m. Malden for a final training, Stone said, and then groups head out to count at 10 p.m.

“Ideally, you end up talking to folks that are unhoused,” he said, “and most of it is to get a little bit of data about why they’re unhoused, how long they’ve been unhoused, if this is a situational thing, if this is a long-term thing, etc.,” he said.

There is no homeless shelter in Medford, so Stone’s office will connect people with facilities and/or services in other communities.

“Short-term, we tend to use the Malden warming center if and when we can,” he said. “Outside of that, it kind of depends on where folks are comfortable being.”

Some of the homeless in Medford at the moment may be transient, while others are rooted here. Either way, not everyone who is homeless wants to be sent to a different community.

“Some of our folks want to stay in Medford,” Stone said, “and telling them that there’s a warming center in Malden, sometimes it’s like telling them that the warming center is on the moon. Malden isn’t where they want to be. They want to be in Medford. That’s a tricky needle to thread sometimes.”

When asked what other kinds of issues his office assists people with, Stone said, “I generally say all of the above.”

“A lot of times, I try to tell people I am a resource connector, not a resource provider,” he said. “My role here isn’t to be somebody’s clinical social worker, it’s not to be their therapist, their counselor, etc. It’s to help point them in the right direction, enable a warm hand-off, and then help to eliminate whatever barriers might have come in the way of them getting those services before.”

It could be rental assistance, eviction assistance, fuel assistance, help with signing up for SNAP benefits, finding a food pantry, signing up for MassHealth, or finding substance use counseling and services. If someone calls with an issue he has never had to look into before, Stone said, he will find out what is available.

“If somebody took the time to call me to figure out how to process or navigate a certain issue, then I’ll be there with them and help process and navigate and go through those speed bumps with them,” he said.