WAYNE AND PIKE COUNTIES, PA — Once a year, aid-providing organizations across the nation pick a day and conduct a count of the homeless populations they serve. 

This count, called the 'point in time' count, took place this year on January 23. The survey not only records data and information on how many people nationally are without permanent housing, but serves as a way for organizations providing aid to check in with the communities they serve. 

Wayne County will be reporting 14 homeless individuals for its point in time tally, according to Heather Mizler, representing the county's housing department.

Pike County's Director of Human Services Robert Ruis wouldn't say what numbers the county recorded in its point in time canvas, saying they would not be available until compiled and released at the regional level. However, Ruis says the numbers have stayed steady over the past five years. See sidebar for the past few years of point in time data from Wayne and Pike Counties. 

In addition, VIP, a non-profit which runs a domestic violence shelter serving the Wayne/Pike area, conducts a separate count of its residents for the point in time survey, according to Mizler.

The face of homelessness

While data is important, numbers alone don't capture the whole picture of homelessness in the Wayne and Pike area.

In rural counties like Wayne and Pike being unhoused does not have one definition, and people who are homeless are not necessarily as visible as they are in more urban areas.

Mizler told the River Reporter that homelessness is "scattered" in Wayne County, especially because of the county's rural nature. "I don't think [you'll see homelessness] unless you go looking for it or turning over every stone."

Some of the county's homeless people are unsheltered, living rough with their only home a tent in the woods or the underside of a bridge. These people are typically living in more remote areas of the county, according to Mizler. 

However, homelessness in Wayne County also looks like 'couch surfing,' says Mizler: people staying temporarily with friends or with families. She gave the example of a family evicted from their home, staying at a relative's house with their kid. 

Ruis told the River Reporter that Pike County's homeless population also included instances of 'couch surfing.' There are also agencies in the Pike County area which provide funding so that homeless individuals and families can stay in area hotels, Ruis says.

Barriers to housing

A lack of income is a "huge barrier" preventing people from finding housing, says Mizler. She says if someone is on social security, that's not enough to cover rent, let alone any of the additional payments that come from securing an apartment. 

There are programs available to assist with rental expenses, though much of the available funding focuses on helping people stay in situations they already occupy. 

Both Wayne and Pike Counties administer the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), a program started during the COVID pandemic which helps currently-housed individuals and families avoid eviction by helping pay rent or utility expenses. 

However, what services are available depends on funding, Mizler says. 

Pike County's ERAP is currently paused while it reviews applications, according to its website. Wayne County scaled back its ERAP in 2022, according to its website, with the county choosing to prioritize the most needy applicants "due to ERAP funding availability becoming increasingly limited."

ERAP funding comes ultimately from the federal government. According to a January report from the U.S. Treasury, the programs which dispensed ERAP funding provided $42.8 billion in relief as of September 2024. The Treasury wrote that ERAP funding helped keep an over a million Americans housed in 2021 alone, and kept eviction filings below their historic averages throughout the pandemic. 

That funding, however, is winding down as the pandemic becomes an ever more distant memory. 

Even when temporary funding is available, that's often not enough to get people into an apartment, says Mizler. Landlords may be hesitant to accept a tenant without a steady source of income, even if there's enough funding available for the apartment at the start. 

Compounding factors: few rentals, high rates, limited transportation

Coupled with less robust housing assistance programs is a lack of rental inventory available in the county. Mizler says the county has a high homeowner rate—roughly 80 percent of families living in the county own their homes, she says—which doesn't leave a lot available for people who are renters. 

What inventory there is can get expensive. The average renter in Wayne County paid $700-999 a month back in 2020, with over 770 people north of $1,000. Prices have only gone up with the influence of the pandemic; for more, see https://riverreporter.com/stories/soaring-prices-stagnant-wages,174190?. 

Housing isn't the only issue for people who are homeless. Beyond shelter, it can be difficult to acquire the other basic necessities of life.  

Transportation is an issue in Wayne County, says Mizler—if someone doesn't live in one of the county's population centers, it can be hard for them to get where they need to go.

Food is another issue. There are food pantries in the Wayne/Pike area, but without reliable transportation, it can be hard for people to get to the county's distribution sites, Mizler says. 

Being without reliable shelter also has health implications. 

Dr. Douglas Klamp, chief medical education officer with the Wright Center for Community Health, told the River Reporter that people experiencing homelessness are more likely to have inadequate access to food and less likely to receive proper medical care. 

"Consequently, they are far less likely to be in control of their chronic health problems, such as diabetes, high blood pressure congestive heart failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease," says Klamp. 

People who are homeless are more likely to not seek medical attention for acute medical problems, until they become fatal or near-fatal, and are more likely to receive inadequate treatment for mental illnesses or substance abuse problems, he says. 

Providing aid

In addition to collecting data, the 17 to 18 people who volunteered with the Wayne County Housing Department to canvas the area for the point in time count also distributed basic necessities. 

"The entire county was reached, which was good," says Mizler. She says that when teams went out, they brought sleeping bags, supplies including food and water, and cards with information on how to access resources. 

Ruis emphasized that calling 211 is the place to start when looking for resources around homelessness. The hotline's specialists can assess the individual or family who calls and connect them directly with the appropriate services, saving them from "bouncing around" between different county departments, he says.

In Pennsylvania, calling 211 will connect the caller to a statewide hotline, where a resource specialist will connect the caller with programs that provide them with the specific help they need. 

Klamp says, "There are many social service agencies—private, governmental and religious—that can provide significant services. Federally qualified health centers and federally qualified health center lookalikes, like the Wright Center for Community Health, are a crucial part of the safety net and will care for anybody, regardless of ability to pay."

A national problem

A houseless population is not unique to Pike and Wayne Counties. The national numbers reported from the point in time count lag a year behind, with the federal government releasing in December the data from the 2024 point in time count. 

In January 2024, more than 770,000 people were experiencing homelessness on the date of the point in time count, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). That figure represented a 13% increase from the previous year. 

HUD reported that the number of homeless veterans decreased nearly 8% from 2023 to 2024, from 35,574 to 32,882. It reported as well that some communities saw a rise in their homelessness figures due to the number of asylum seekers looking for shelter.