Note: All photos shared or taken by Spring Roehm
A big thank you to everyone who took part in this year’s Point in Time Count, which estimates the number of unhoused folks in Island County.
This is the eleventh year of the program which saw volunteers distributing food, clothing and hair care. As in the past, the event on South Whidbey took place at the Island Church of Whidbey in Langley. About 30 folks gather there twice a week for a hot meal, some of them without stable housing. A number of volunteers from the Rotary Club of Whidbey Westside and other non-profits were available to provide outreach and resources.
The January 30 event is a federally-mandated annual census of people experiencing homelessness. Federal Dept. of Housing and Urban Development–HUD–coordinates with the Washington State Dept. of Commerce to gather the numbers. The numbers collected determine the amount of funding agencies receive, such as the Island County Housing Authority, which, according to its website description is “…the first stop for individuals or families who are struggling with homelessness or at risk of losing their housing.”
The HUD Point in Time County for Island County in 2024 was 185. According to its report, “… more than 770,000 people (nationwide) were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2024, an 18% increase from 2023. This report reflects data collected a year ago and likely does not represent current circumstances, given changed policies and conditions.
The count was held at places where those without stable housing are likely to gather. Besides welcoming folks with warm clothes, food and personal care bags at the centers, Island County employees and trained volunteers visited camps where folks live to collect data.
Spring Roehm a volunteer with the Rotary Club of Whidbey Westside, set up a hair salon—she is the owner of Salon Spring in Freeland—and during this visit cut and styled the hair of visitors.
Judy Thorslund helped raise awareness on helping Island County’s unhoused people more than ten years ago.
“In 2014 there were a few of us on South Whidbey talking about the need for shelter for our unhoused people,” Thorslund recalled in a previous interview. “There was a woman, a former veteran sleeping in the bin at Good Cheer. The homeless advocate from the county asked if we would be willing to hold a ‘Point in Time count’ on the south end of the island.”
With Good Cheer volunteers, the group held its first Point in Time Count at Bayview Hall.
“It was at this gathering where our group gathered and elected me as chairperson for our work,” Thorslund added. “We went on from this day to establish the South Whidbey Homeless Coalition, so you might say that the Homeless Coalition was born on our first Point in Time count day.
Nowadays the South Whidbey Homeless Coalition has merged with the Whidbey Homeless Coalition, led by Executive Director Tanya Stager-Gran, who experienced being homeless with five children years ago, before meeting Thorslund and her outreach group, an event which turned her life around.