Teams survey and count Oklahoma City's homeless population Thursday

Oklahoma City (KOKH) — Several metro organizations hit the streets Thursday morning, to count the city's homeless population.

The City of Oklahoma City, Homeless Alliance and Coalition to End Poverty will count, survey and provide outreach to individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness.

This is the city's annual "Point in Time" count of those experiencing homelessness. Communities that receive funding from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development are required to conduct the survey at least once every two years. although Oklahoma City’s survey is annual. Teams visited shelters, hot meal programs and encampments to count and survey people experiencing homelessness. Teams also handed out bags with hygiene kids, bus passes, and winter gear.

Homeless Alliance executive director, Dan Straughan, said 16 teams started their Thursday morning early, hitting the streets at 4 a.m. and wrapping up around 7:30 a.m.

Straughan said it'll take about a month before they get the final count. Since they survey on the streets and the shelters, they don't have redundant information.

"So somebody I saw at 4 o'clock in the morning on S. Western may come to the day shelter for lunch and get surveyed both times. So we have to deduplicate."

The 2019 survey counted 1,273 people experiencing homelessness in Oklahoma City on the day of the count. Experts estimate a community’s annual population of people experiencing homelessness is at least five times larger than its one-night findings. That means 6,300 or more people were likely experiencing homelessness in Oklahoma City last year.