Lane County Human Services is seeking volunteers to help with the annual homeless count on January 31st. This year is expected to be the most comprehensive tally of homeless individuals to date.
The plan is to divvy up the 12 incorporated cities in the county and send teams to canvas each area. This year’s count will also put a first time focus on unhoused youth with questions about foster care and sexual orientation.
Alexandria Dreher is Lane County Human Services supervisor.
“We know nationwide that LGBTQ youth experience homelessness at higher rates than non-LGBTQ due to family rejection for their sexual orientation. So this will allow us to have local data on what that looks like here.”
Dreher says they need at least 300 volunteers.
Those interested in helping with the count must be at least 18 years old, fluent in English and trained either in person or online.