2017 NEW MEXICO COALITION TO END HOMELESSNESS POINT-IN-TIME

Albuquerque Non-Profits Come Together to Make it CountIn collaboration with our partners, Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless (AHCH) deployed its 31-year-old national model of outreach to participate in the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness (NMCEH) Point-in-Time Count in Albuquerque during the last week of January 2017. Thank you to everyone who gave their time and talent to make the 2017 NMCEH Point-in-Time count in Albuquerque productive.

The following organizations partnered with NMCEH to make the 2017 Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Point-in-Time Count successful:

• City of Albuquerque
• Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless
• APS and Albuquerque Charter Schools Title One Homeless Project
• First Nations Community HealthSource
• Goodwill Industries of New Mexico
• Albuquerque Heading Home
• Molina Healthcare
• New Day Youth & Family Services
• NM Veterans Administration
• NM Veterans Integration Centers
• The Rock at NoonDay
• St. Martin's Hospitality Center
• Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico
• Warehouse Five O'eight

The Point-in-Time Count (PIT), a well-known and necessary biennial activity, undertaken by many of America’s most passionate advocates, is filled with both opportunities and challenges. While the count is mandated by a federal department that then uses the results to make funding decisions and will likely always be insufficient, there is no doubt that it is also an attempt at the local level to try and identify the quantity of people in need. This number is important so that an appropriate match can be made to planning, developing, and carrying out affordable housing, health care, and social services. We know that health care is a social problem. The most startling effects of poor health are seen in populations of people most affected by poverty, low-wages, and unstable housing.  Homelessness is the most visible result of unstable housing and an early, disparate death rate is the most startling result of homelessness. The health related causes and consequences of homelessness are themselves the greatest evidence of social problems, such as the unequal distribution of housing and wealth in our nation's communities, and in particular, communities of color, plaguing the health of our country. For more information on this local effort, read this feature in the Albuquerque Journal. For more information on the Point-in-Time Count nationally, read out this Guardian article.