The City of Newburgh recently participated in the annual Point-In-Time Count under the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. A Feb. 8 presentation to a City Council work session showed that over the course of two days, city staff identified 50 unsheltered individuals who were spoken to and surveyed with evidence of 25 to 30 more individuals by hearsay.

City of Newburgh Planning and Development Director Alexandra Church presented the findings to the council. The Point-In-Time Count is a count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January. Church reported that five uniformed police personnel, three city planning staff, Westchester Community Opportunity Program, Inc. (WestCOP), staff from the nonprofit HONOR, Team Newburgh and Habitat for Humanity participated in the count on January 25.

“The City of Newburgh fully participated. We always participate but this year we had been concerned about numbers in the past that seemed lower than what we were seeing on the street,” said Church. “Staff walked almost every single street east of Robinson Avenue. We had people go out to what I called ‘hot spots’ but those were just over the last few months where we had heard a complaint from someone or a concern from someone about a location. We went and checked it out. Any place we went to during the day that there was evidence that maybe someone was there, we also followed up at night.”

The Quassaick Creek corridor was also walked by staff, according to Church, as it was an item brought up by the city council. Staff also walked from the Crystal Lake parking lot to Miller’s Pond.

Individuals surveyed doing the count include a lifelong city resident and veteran, a single father on the street who works full-time at Amazon and a group of migrants from Nicaragua who were unable to work legally and are not able to be offered housing and other services.

Others included a couple in an apartment who were renters but the landlord walked out on them, which would be considered a squatting situation, Church said. Similar individuals in the building were also experiencing similar situations. Other individuals found were people who either have substance abuse issues or mental health issues.

Church also reported that individuals were found in abandoned buildings that looked liveable and occupied from the front but that was not the case from the rear, where buildings were exposed. Tent encampments were less than rumored and there were no tent encampments at Crystal Lake, said Church.

Church raised the point of needing additional housing and advocated for more time for street outreach workers. There is also a tracking system being developed that can help with identifying locations of individuals. Through coordination with the police department, this tool would help in getting services to people. An evaluation of the housing resource center also needs to be looked at, said Church.