Hundreds of volunteers spread out across city to survey homeless population
SAN ANTONIO — The annual point-in-time count to survey the City's homeless population was underway Thursday.
Hundreds of volunteers spread out across the city in search of homeless individuals and camps.
One location that was surveyed for the annual point-in-time count is a homeless camp off of Austin Highway near Perrin Beitel Road.
Over 20 teams descended on the streets of San Antonio to tally how many people are homeless, and to learn how they ended up this way.
Volunteers asked for any information that the homeless would give including their age, where they came from and what kind of help they might like.
The information helps organizations like the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless get an understanding of the population. The numbers also help get funding.
"It helps us prove that we absolutely need more resources not only from the government but from different grants to be able to provide the services that are needed." said Brenda from the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless.
Last year's point-in-time count showed a major increase in homelessness in San Antonio.
Volunteers are using this app called "Counting Us" to track how many homeless people they are meeting and any information they receive on them.
SARAH says it could take two weeks before all of the numbers are collected and released to the public.
