Thanks to the efforts of Public Health Director Marcy Rein and her team of trained assistants, Whitley County should be in a much better position than it was previously to receive federal funding to help combat homelessness and housing insecurity.
On Wednesday, Jan. 29, the Kentucky Housing Corporation’s (KHC) annual K-Count census took place across the state. This is a yearly event that is designed to give a location-by-location snapshot of what the homelessness situation currently looks like. Using the data collected during the one-day K-Count effort, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) determines how much funding is needed, and where.
“This originated from HUD, but the Kentucky Housing Corporation is who manages it here,” Rein explained. “In order to qualify for HUD money, you have to participate in this yearly count.”
Sounds simple enough, but prior to the last four years or so, Whitley County was woefully underrepresented in the count.
“We noticed a few years ago that there were more people talking about homelessness when they came to the clinic,” Rein said. “We started asking our harm reduction participants if they were experiencing homelessness, and we were finding that several of them did not have steady housing.”
“When we looked at the data that the KHC had, it showed that there were only two homeless people in Whitley County. Intuitively, we know that didn’t sound right, so several community partners convened and had a conversation. We decided that the main thing we could contribute was sharing information from agency-to-agency in order to better participate in the data collection.”
After agreeing to assist with the annual census, Rein began reaching out to local law enforcement, medical facilities and homeless ministries. Whitley County Health Department personnel were sent to get trained by the KHC on how to participate in the count, and while it has been an ongoing learning process, the local area has started receiving more accurate representation.
While final numbers for the 2025 K-Count won’t officially be released by the KHC until later this year, Rein reports that she and her team counted 15 homeless individuals in the local area on Jan. 29. This was up from eight people who were reported in 2024.
What constitutes homelessness in the annual K-Count?
While zero percent homelessness is obviously the goal to strive toward, 15 homeless individuals may not sound like a terrible situation, especially when compared to other parts of the state. It is important to remember, however, that there are several different factors that come into play during this one-day census.
First, it is impossible for volunteers to cover every inch of an entire county. Those who counted locally included a small team that surveyed the Corbin area, another that looked in-and-around the City of Williamsburg, and a third that ventured further south into the county. When someone was found who was thought to be potentially homeless, they had to meet certain criteria that included:
– Not hospitalized for the duration the 24-hour period of Jan. 29 (those being released into homelessness before the end of the 24-hour period COULD be counted)
– Not in jail (being in jail equals being “housed” according to the K-Count)
– Not being in detox or currently residing in treatment facility
– Not staying with friends and family, or in other words, “couch surfing”
The final tally that Rein and her team came up with also did not count people living at the Emergency Christian Ministries homeless shelter, as those individuals will be reported separately by facility Director Susan Jett.
“We were trying to count those people who were literally homeless in the 24-hour period of the counting day,” Rein said. “We literally went by the answer to the question of ‘Where are you sleeping tonight?’”
According to Rein, this meant counting people who were going to be sleeping “in a place not meant for human habitation.” This could include anywhere outdoors, or in a camper that had no access to any sort of utility services.
Rein also mentioned that people being housed in a local hotel or motel by a non-profit or ministry organization could be counted, but this ended up being a non-factor on Jan. 29 because temperatures were warm enough so that those measures did not have to be taken on that particular day.
Once a homeless person was located, that data was reported to the KHC through the use of a mobile app that volunteers had downloaded onto their phones. Those numbers are now being analyzed by the KHC, and will be released in their official 2025 report later this year.
A complicated problem
Rein said that certain areas of the county can be difficult to survey, especially if they happen to be located within close proximity to a county line (or lines). She said there can be a lot of movement among those who currently have no permanent housing, so one day they may be found in Whitley County while they next they are in Knox, or Laurel.
As for how people can effectively avoid homelessness, Rein said that finding employment can be hard to obtain if you do not have a home where you can take a shower and change into clean clothes. Therefore, the problem only compounds itself and leads many to simply give up.
“A lot of people get so overwhelmed by these things,” Rein said. “They don’t just simply find themselves in these situations one day, so it’s not going to get solved simply. There are a lot of different factors that come into play. You can’t be healthy if you don’t have housing or food, and your other basic needs aren’t being met. You can’t worry about a job if you’re worried about where you’re going to sleep at night. People’s focus tends to get very narrow very quickly when it is a matter of survival.”
Rein said that she doesn’t expect to see any sort of meaningful re-allocation of federal funds that will be targeted at helping our immediate area in the immediate future, but she is hopeful that, thanks to the efforts of those who are now regularly participating in the K-Count efforts, that could change in the years to come.
“At least there is some recognition that there may be a growing need here,” Rein concluded.
