Housing the Unhoused

NORRISTOWN, PA — Montgomery County will conduct their annual count of the homeless population across the county in the last week of January 2025, as authorities continue to search for solutions to an ongoing crisis. The 2024 count found 435 individuals sleeping either outside or in emergency shelters. Your Way Home Montgomery County and the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services are working together to distribute survival items to the homeless. And they're gathering donations from the public.

The list of needs ranges from waterproof backpacks to hand warmers and wool socks, as a dangerously cold and wet winter continues. Point in time counts are run every year by the county to get some semblance of a picture of the unhoused community, and what resources are needed to address a worsening problem. Counts are almost always on the short end of reality, as not every person without a home can be reliably found, and numbers inevitably fluctuate as the year goes on.

The 435 number was a sharp increase from 2023, when 357 homeless individuals were counted in 2023's event, including 217 in an emergency shelter, 30 in a transitional housing facility, and 110 sleeping outside. While the overall number was a 37 percent decrease from 2022 because of the individuals in temporary shelters due to Hurricane Ida in 2022, a key number — 110 sleeping outside — stuck out markedly to authorities.

Homelessness has been on the rise locally and nationally for years. The annual studies are yet another reminder of what officials have already known has been a growing problem over the past several years. The pandemic and inflation only exacerbated underlying systemic issues like income inequality and an insufficient safety net, and society's most vulnerable are paying the price.

According to the Montgomery County Planning Commission, there are only 37 affordable rental units per 100 households making below $35,000 a year countywide. Moreover, more than 65 percent of renter households below the $35,000 a year threshold pay more than 50 percent of their monthly income toward rent and utilities. Sharp pushback from some NIMBY communities and corporate interests on affordable housing has complicated the process of providing affordable solutions.

From The Patch December 11, 2024