Regina’s first homeless count coming this spring

REGINA – When temperatures drop extremely low you might not actually see Regina’s homeless, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

“We usually go to shopping centres or the mall,” said Paul Begin who has lived on the streets for five years.  “I’m more worried about where I’m going to lay my head than anything else.”

Without a job and place to call his own, Begin relies on local aid from local organizations.

“It was just me being young and stupid and irresponsible that lead me to this situation, but a lot of people here have long term disabilities or mental illness.”

So just how many people have the same or similar story as Begin?

To measure how big of an issue homelessness is in Regina, local stakeholders are working to execute Regina’s first ever ‘Point-In-time-Count on Homelessness’ or PIT-Count.

“It’s important to know how big the homeless issue in our city is and once we know that we can tailor our programs and priorities for that,” explained Mayor Michael Fougere.

A PIT-Count is basically a snap shot of the number of people struggling to find a roof over their head in any way they can.

In May, around 150 volunteers will literally do a street count over a 24-hour period. Shelters and other local aid organizations will provide information about their clients.

The YMCA will be implementing the count in conjunction with the Community Advisory Board as part of the city’s Homelessness Partnering Strategy.

John Bailey is the general manager of community development with the YMCA. He said the count is really the first step of many to eliminate homelessness in Regina:

“From that we’re hoping to continue with the community engagement piece that will allow us to allocate funds as appropriately as possible given the actual realities as opposed to assumptions and practices previously.”

The plan is to conduct the count every two years to track long-term trends and ultimately determine the best intervention methods to help someone like Begin get off the streets permanently.