Helping break the cycle of nicotine

said. And 40% of the clients at risk of homelessness “sustained” their housing, meaning they were able to connect with services or nancial support to prevent eviction or loss of housing.

“Of the housing connections we’ve been able to make for folks … most frequently it’s assisted living facilities,” Montoya said, because of the clients’ needs. In some cases, that’s a temporary setting, she added.

Hundreds of contacts e nonpro t received a federal grant last year for a street outreach team — workers who approach people in need. at program launched last year and is active in Arapahoe and Douglas counties, an AllHealth sta member told the committee at the meeting. e team collaborates with Douglas County’s Homeless Engagement, Assistance and Resource Team, or HEART, which began in mid-September. ( e county began collecting data on HEART in October.)

AllHealth, the nonpro t, also plays a role in addressing homelessness in the south metro area.

From October to February, 602 referrals have been submitted to HEART, according to county spokesperson Wendy Holmes. ose resulted in the following outcomes:

• In 208 cases, people were contacted and received services.

• 228 cases were “informationonly” referrals.

• 102 cases were listed as “unable to locate.”

• 54 were listed as “not cooperative.”

• 10 were listed as “unoccupied camps.”

In February, three HEART clients were assisted with housing searches, and six clients received hotel vouchers, Ti any Marsitto, a supervisor with HEART, told the committee during the March 9 meeting.

Population can be di cult to track Douglas County saw a drop in the number of people experiencing homelessness who were counted as part of the Denver metro area’s annual snapshot of the unhoused this year compared to last, according to early data the county presented in early February.

Each year, typically in January, volunteers and sta from sources such as nonpro ts and local governments team up in communities across the Denver metro area, and areas around the nation, to conduct the Point in Time count of their region’s homeless population. is year’s metro Denver count started the evening of Jan. 30 and ran into the next morning.

In Douglas County, o cials quickly presented early data from this year’s count. ey highlighted that the overall number of homeless dropped to 57, down from 78 last year, with the count of unsheltered homeless dropping to 27, down from 50.

In 2020, Douglas County’s overall count — sheltered and unsheltered — was 53. In 2019, that number was 14, and in 2018, it was 34. ( e metro area did not count unsheltered homeless in 2021 due to COVID-19 safety concerns.)

Because the Point in Time count generally takes place on a single night and can be a ected by weather or other variables, the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative does not recommend looking at data trends year over year, although the count remains an often-cited statistic.

County o cials have heralded the drop in Douglas County’s Point in Time numbers as indicating a decrease in overall homelessness in