PRESS RELEASE: Peer Advisors Guide Region’s Annual Point in Time Count of People Experiencing Homelessness
DENVER, COLORADO – January 22, 2024 – The Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI) is coordinating its seven-county annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count today. The count, conducted in January each year, is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to capture the number of unduplicated individuals experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness on a single night. This year’s Point in Time count takes place across Adams Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson Counties from sundown January 22, 2024, to sundown January 23, 2024.
The PIT is an annual snapshot of homelessness on a single night with numerous variables such as weather, count participation, volunteer engagement, and various other factors. While the region continues to improve our count and was able to locate 9,065 individuals in 2023, the Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS) used by over 100 participating agencies allows us to see that this number is closer to 30,000 throughout the year.
The Peer Advisor initiative began as a pilot in 2022-2023, bringing in people with lived experience of homelessness to consult within their city and county on the Point in Time Count. Peer Advisors participate in the PIT count's administration, consultation, planning, and implementation. Peer Advisors are paid a stipend for their time and are required to complete an orientation to participate. Sierra Trujillo, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at MDHI, spoke to the importance of this initiative. “With the introduction of the Peer Advisor initiative, our vision aimed at a transformative shift in the PIT, integrating the wisdom and resilience of individuals who have experienced homelessness. This initiative creates a distinctive opportunity for collaboration with service providers, placing the peer advisors at the forefront in the planning and implementation of the PIT.”
Courtney Fischer with Volunteers of America Colorado is the Point in Time Lead for the City and County of Denver. “The Peer Advisor program has allowed for a greater collaboration with the individuals who are most impacted by the Point in Time count. Their insight is key to getting a more accurate count,” said Fischer. She added, “I have seen the role give greater confidence to the Peer Advisors as they interact with the service providers as their peers, too. I think the program, while still small, has the potential to grow into something much larger within Colorado.”
Mandy Walke with the City and County of Broomfield echoed this sentiment. “The advisors have impacted Broomfield County’s 2024 PIT count planning by providing their perspective, obtained through lived experience, on the best ways to engage those experiencing homelessness during the PIT count. Their role is a win-win: they’ve reported how mutually beneficial this has been for them to be able to give back and use their life experiences to help others.”
One Broomfield Peer Advisor agreed. They shared, “At one point in time in your life you will pause and ask yourself, is this what I wanted? Where there is no struggle there is no strength. That's where I found myself needing change. To help pass this message to others is all I could ever dream for.”
For more information on the PIT count, 2023 data, and county-by-county breakdowns, please visit mdhi.org/pit. A more comprehensive look at homelessness can be found in MDHI’s State of Homelessness 2023 Report.
MDHI is the Metro Denver Continuum of Care, the regional system that coordinates services and housing for people experiencing homelessness. This includes prevention/diversion, street outreach, emergency shelter, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, and permanent supportive housing. MDHI works closely with each county in its continuum (Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson) to build a homeless crisis response system that gets people back into housing as quickly as possible. Learn more at mdhi.org.