VA working to get accurate count of homeless veterans in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — The homeless population, including homeless veterans, in Utah may be on the rise. However, the Department of Veterans Affairs is having trouble getting an accurate count.

The point in time count, which gathers data on how many veterans are homeless, is completed each year in January. The Housing and Urban Development Department, which works closely with the VA, requires the annual count.

Each year, there are challenges in trying to locate and count many of our homeless veterans. Many do not use shelters and tend to scatter to remote places, making it difficult to get an accurate count.

Meisha Jensen is the entry specialist for the Homeless and Justice Recovery with the VA.

“While my records and my data that we keep internally is showing us that more veterans are coming, the annual point in time count data is showing that we haven’t found these folks on the night that the count was done,” she said.

Jensen also said the VA is looking for volunteers to help with the count coming up the end of January. For more information you can go to endutahhomelessness.org.

Michele Rowe is a traffic reporter for KSL NewsRadio.

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