May 24, 2022
Pilot project seeks to revamp methods of counting homeless populations in King County
The current method of counting individuals experiencing homelessness centers on national “point in time” census-like counts conducted once a year, which are proven to miss many hidden individuals while being highly inefficient. Dr. Amy Hagopian, professor in the University of Washington School of Public Health, is leading an interdisciplinary team awarded a Tier 2 Population Health Initiative pilot grant titled, “Innovating Better Methods to Enumerate Individuals Experiencing Homelessness,” with the goal of reforming these inadequate systems of counting to reduce inequities that persist due to the growing homelessness crisis in the United States.
“The real health problems in the world are caused by the maldistribution of power,” said Hagopian. “Homelessness is just one more example of how power has become so inequitably distributed. There are growing legions of people experiencing homelessness – and other very dire situations, even if they’re not homeless yet. Many people are on the verge of homelessness, under threat of eviction, behind on rent, or in severe debt.”
The Population Health Initiative pilot grant will support research Hagopian’s team has been working on to design alternatives to the “point in time” count, which is the federal Housing and Urban Development agency’s mandated method of counting. Her interdisciplinary team is expanding its partnership with King County’s new Regional Authority on Homelessness on this project to test innovative enumeration methods in the King County area.
“It was surreal to be writing this grant proposal as we were already implementing it, which really brought it to life for us and made it really genuine,” expressed Hagopian. “The Regional Authority on Homelessness is staffed with bureaucratically courageous individuals who are really interested in innovating this issue, which is truly remarkable and exciting for us as researchers.”
The team’s research focuses on creating respondent-driven survey sampling methods and comparing these data with the Homeless Management Information System, which currently serves as the primary data hub for tracking homeless service delivery across the nation. Moving forward, they will focus on testing and refining these methods with the goal of ultimately developing a multidisciplinary Homelessness Research Lab at UW that engages students with faculty and works toward innovative, interdisciplinary solutions to this growing challenge.
Problems must be accurately measured to be addressed. The team’s work aims to bring more accurate counts of people frozen out of the high-cost housing market, with Hagopian and her collaborators seeking to innovate solutions to counting homeless individuals through approaches that redefine policies and value the experiences of homeless individuals themselves.