UPDATE 5:45 p.m. Bethesda Cares does not need additional volunteers for Thursday’s point-in-time count. Volunteer teams have already been assembled.
The local nonprofit trying to get the homeless of Bethesda off the streets will head out Thursday morning for its annual point-in-time count.
Bethesda Cares does the count each year as a census and survey of homeless persons in Bethesda, Friendship Heights and White Flint/North Bethesda. This year’s count is set for 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. on Thursday with a training session from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Outreach teams will leave from Bethesda Cares (7728 Woodmont Ave.) and the training session will cover “hotspot” locations for homeless individuals, safety precautions, approach techniques and logistics.
The surveys help Bethesda Cares organize outreach efforts and helps the nonprofit work with homeless clients to get them into permanent supportive housing programs.
Many of Bethesda’s homeless are medically vulnerable, meaning they suffer from chronic physical and mental problems that come from years of living on the street. Bethesda Cares also provides medical screening services, counseling and clothes at its offices.
Last year, as a result of the annual 100,000 Homes Survey, Councilmembers George Leventhal and Craig Rice introduced a special budget appropriation of $649,325 to immediately place 15 homeless individuals for 18 months in supportive housing.
