Andrea Slivka Public Relations Coordinator Catholic Charities, Diocese of Toledo 419-244-6711, ext. 139 419-308-2272 aslivka@toledodiocese.org www.catholiccharitiesnwo.org

Roxanne Sandles Housing Program Coordinator Catholic Charities 34 Woodlawn Ave. Norwalk, Ohio 44857 419-668-3073, ext. 107 rsandles@toledodiocese.org

Catholic Charities Coordinates Count of Homeless Persons in Huron County

JAN. 19, 2012—NORWALK—Catholic Charities is spearheading the annual Point-in-Time count of homeless persons in Huron County Jan. 24.

Volunteers and participating agencies will count homeless persons at food pantries, hospitals, social service agencies, churches, emergency shelters, transitional housing and other locations. The count begins at midnight Jan. 23 and continues through midnight Jan. 24. The local count will include households doubled up, which are households living with family or friends.

The event provides a snapshot of one day of homelessness in the county and is part of the Ohio Point-in-Time Count 2012: Everyone Counts, required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for communities receiving Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance grant funding. The data is used to plan future services geared toward ending homelessness, to understand changes in trends in the homeless population and to justify the need for continued resources to assist the homeless.

Previous counts showed 62 homeless persons in Huron County in 2010 and 18 in 2011, excluding households living doubled up. The decrease was attributed by the state to the federal Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program, said Roxanne Sandles, coordinator of Catholic Charities Housing Program and Huron CountyPoint-In-Time.

The count is being coordinated locally by the Huron County Continuum of Care, a housing task force for which Catholic Charities is the lead agency, and in the state by the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO).

To view the 2010 Ohio report compiled byCOHHIO, visit http://www.nlihc.org/doc/repository/OH-Homelessness_2010.pdf. “This annual survey is extremely important to residents of Huron County as it will impact current and future funding of services for our most vulnerable citizens,” Sandles said. “We are working with county agencies, churches and law enforcement to get as accurate a count aspossible.”

In 2010, Catholic Charities served 31,000 people in the Diocese of Toledo by providing food, shelter, prescription and emergency rent assistance aswell as adoption services, jail and prison ministries and services to the elderly. The organization’s mission is to make real the love that God has for each individual person regardless of their faith or background by serving the poor, speaking for and assisting the neglected and forgotten, respecting and promoting life from beginning to end and nurturing and supporting individuals and families.

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