New program hopes to serve the homeless population of Anchorage

The homeless population is the focus of many organizations as they work to better serve the underserved.

Here in Anchorage, more than one hundred volunteers gathered data about the number and location of individuals experiencing homelessness in the city.

This is part of the national effort to create a data set from a "point in time" count and look at the trends of the homeless population.

“We use the crowdsourcing information that we have received through the community, throughout the year," said Jasmine Khan, executive director of the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness. "We look at the GIS system and where it tells us where there are densities of folks experiencing homelessness outside of things like shelters or transitional living institutions. We target those areas so the police, the fire department, and the GIS folks come together and create mapping of core targeted places for us to be going and looking at counting the number of people experiencing the cold outside.”

The Point In Time Count took place Tuesday evening from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and the information gathered will be compiled into a report distributed in the spring.

Volunteers for the count are trained and work to meet the basic needs of the people they come into contact with as well as direct them to an event later the following day. It's a one-stop shop for one of Anchorages underserved populations.

Non-profit and government agencies have gathered since 2007 to serve almost a thousand anchorage residents experiencing homelessness.

Project Homeless Connect provides the homeless populations with services such as haircuts, state ID cards, and housing information all in one location at one time.

Alan Budahl, Project Homeless Connect coordinator said, “Because it’s very hard for people who are homeless quite often they are challenged by transportation and to be able to meet in many different agencies at one time and in one day saves them a lot of time and effort in a warm and inviting environment. “

The Project Homeless Connect is Wednesday at the Egan Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m in Anchorage and in Wasilla at the Menard Sports Complex.