By JIMMY LAWTON

An effort is underway to better track homelessness in the North Country, which could mean more funding to address a problem that exists behind the scenes in rural St. Lawrence County.

Homelessness may be less visible in less populated areas, but that doesn’t mean it’s not here, according to members of the Points North Housing Coalition, which tracks homelessness in St. Lawrence, Lewis and Jefferson counties.

In 2013, St. Lawrence County Department of Social Services Director Chris Rediehs estimated around 220 people visited his department because they did not have shelter. That’s not a staggering number for a county with a population of 112,000 people, but Rediehs suspects the true number of homeless in the county is higher.

That might be a shock for many St. Lawrence County residents, because the homeless largely go unseen, and that’s part of the problem.

“I think there is more homelessness here than is visible,” Rediehs said.

Broken method?

Shedding a light on that number is major goal for the Points North Housing Coalition. An annual point-in-time study has been used as the main tool for tracking the number of homeless in the area.

This is a one-day survey held each January, where an attempt is made to locate, interview and identify homeless residents, and while that may be effective for urban areas, organizers at Points North say it simply doesn’t work well for rural areas like St. Lawrence County.

The findings are submitted to The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and can play a major role in the amount of funding received to address the problem.

Some organizers would like to see the date of the study shifted from January to a date in the summer when homelessness is more visible.

Samantha Dishaw, of North Country Management Services, aids in data collection. She says this change could help the county better identify the number of homeless people in the area, because they are simply more visible in the summer months.

Rediehs, who is also a member of Points North, said the change may help, but added that the job would still be quite challenging.

“I think in the warmer weather one might be able to find people who are in certain locations that aren’t so obvious in the winter,” he said. “But, there are always going to be challenges to it. People in these situations might not have contact with others. They may be in a mobile home with no electricity or running water or in housing that is in such poor condition that it is condemned.”

Rediehs says another problem in tracking is the fact that many people aren’t interested in sharing their struggle. He said it’s not an issue people are proud to bring forward and it can be hard to convince many people to seek help, let alone share their situation on a survey.

Change Needed?

Jeffrey Reifensnyder is executive director of the Massena Independent Living Center, one of the county’s largest providers of housing assistance. He is also a member of the coalition. He said the system in place probably works quite well for urban areas, where shelters and common gathering areas exist to help the homelessness, but noted that the North Country is a different beast.

“Homeless has long been looked at as an urban problem, but it’s not just an urban problem. In an urban setting you will see the person pushing a shopping cart in a more stereotypical fashion, but here you just don’t see that, it’s different,” he said.

Reifensnyder said St. Lawrence County is a “vast giant wilderness” and tracking down homelessness here is a tricky task. He agrees that the January point-in-time study isn’t the best method for tracking the problem in rural areas.

“We don’t have the resources to do it. One day just isn’t going to work,” he said. “I don’t resent HUD for having to do it. I think HUD needs some kind of a tool for this. I just think we need to sharpen it if we want it for the rural areas,” he said.

“When it’s 20 below people find a place to stay, whether it’s in a vehicle, a friend’s kitchen floor. They won’t be sleeping outside,” he said, adding that a one-day snapshot, regardless of when it is taken, doesn’t work well in less populated areas.

He said the geography alone makes it hard to find enough staff to do the survey, especially in St. Lawrence County, which is the largest in the state.

Reifensnyder says said he doesn’t have a solution, but thinks a good start would involve having the county’s charitable organizations, Neighborhood Centers and food banks work together to track the homeless.

“I think somehow we need to develop a mechanism where official not-for-profits, food pantries and organizations that come into contact with the homeless work to keep track of the numbers,” he said.

But will HUD be receptive to the change?

It’s hard to say. Dishaw said HUD officials who met recently with Points North seemed open to discussing a date change in the point-in-time survey, but nothing further has happened.

Multiple attempts to contact HUD regarding the issue were unsuccessful.