Volunteers help with annual homeless count in Colorado Springs

Volunteers are taking to the streets for the Colorado Springs point-in-time survey.

Every year, Pikes Peak United Way, Catholic Charities and homeless outreach teams conduct surveys to count the number of homeless individuals and families in the community.

“We do a much broader count of people on this day to try to get a feeling for how many people we have who are particularly unsheltered,” said Anne Beer, vice president of income and housing stability at Pikes Peak United Way. “It helps determine what our priorities are.”

The annual count determines how much funding the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will give to local homeless resources.

“We need to help break down the barriers in our community to be able to get people out of homelessness,” Beer said.

Pikes Peak United Way opened two new winter shelters in November. Shelters continue to be a need during severe weather.

“It gets really hot and it gets really cold when you’re out here all the time,” Cameron Moore said.

Last year’s point-in-time survey found 2,142 individuals and families were either homeless, lived in shelters or transitional housing programs in Colorado Springs.