Homeless Count Tables - City of Prince George

Section 2: Methodology
Prince George Homeless Count Report 2010
2.1 Planning Process
The coordinator hired for the 2010 Homeless Count was tasked with compiling the information from the
2008 Count, along with the 2010 Count activities, into a user friendly format that would act as a guide to
any future counts 2 (see Appendix C). The purpose of this guide book is to provide an avenue for a
consistent methodology and approach to the count process, thereby providing a comparable and
accountable process. The guide book provides a complete collection of the materials developed and
used during the 2010 Homeless Count. This guide will be used to assist with future homeless counts and
provides detailed information supplementing this report.
Several components of the 2008 Count methodology had proven successful and were built upon during
the 2010 Homeless Count. For instance, the previous identification and mapping of areas to be surveyed
were extremely valuable and were used as the base for this year’s count, along with the identification of
agencies that were a critical part of the process. In addition, several recommendations resulting from
the first Count were incorporated, including an earlier start of the Count (4:30 am versus 6:00 am) as
well as more time allocated to training to ensure all volunteers were made aware of ethical and safety
issues related to the conduct of the Count.
The Coordinator for the 2010 Homeless Count expressed a personal interest in continuing further with
activities related to the Count and so was also pivotal in aspects of the training of volunteers, organizing
these volunteers and soliciting donations from various sources.
2.2 Timeframe and Timing of the Count
The organization of any community event involves extensive planning which, in turn, relies upon
accurate and reliable timeframes. CPAH is a voluntary group of agencies and individuals and it needs to
be recognized that the group’s members volunteer outside of their existing day-to-day jobs and
responsibilities, which limit their ability to actively contribute. In addition, the group has very limited
funds available to work with and also completes other significant activities throughout the year, which
demand time and resources and which are no less important than the Homeless Count.
To date, each count has presented its own unique challenges, which CPAH continues to work on
improving. Such challenges include the attraction of the necessary resources to implement the homeless
count, which requires CPAH to go through a lengthy process in order to obtain funding through Service
Canada, as well as recruiting committed volunteers to conduct the Count, which often is particularly
2 Community Partners Addressing Homelessness, 2010. Guide to Coordinating and Conducting a Homeless Count:
Putting the Pieces of the Puzzle Together. Prince George: CPAH.
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