The Orange County Continuum of Care has scheduled the 2022 Point In Time count of people experiencing homelessness at the end of February. People in shelters will be surveyed on February 21 and unsheltered people will be surveyed February 23 to 24. The unsheltered count is planned, coordinated, and managed by nonprofit City Net under contract with the County.

Photo courtesy of www.everyonecountsoc.org.

The count of homeless people in Fullerton and other cities in what is called the Northern Service Planning Area (SPA) will be on Wednesday, February 23. The deployment site for the cities of Fullerton, Buena Park, Cypress, La Habra, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Stanton, and West Anaheim will be at the Fullerton Public Library.

Trained teams of volunteers will be sent to predesignated locations to survey homeless people using a smart phone application that will guide the volunteer through a series of questions based on the respondents’ circumstances. Due to COVID, volunteers are asked to create their own teams rather than being paired up with people they don’t know at the deployment center. To protect the people contacted in the field, volunteers are required to have current COVID vaccination records or proof of negative test results no more than 48 hours prior to the count.

There are three roles for volunteers as a team captain, field surveyor, and at the deployment centers. Volunteers may select either a morning or an evening shift. The morning shifts range from as early as 3:30am to 10am at the deployment centers and 4:30 to 9:30am for those conducting the surveys. The evening shift hours range from 5:30pm to midnight at the deployment centers and 6:30pm to 11:30pm for those in the field.

Those interested in volunteering or wanting more information may can visit https://www.everyonecountsoc.org.