Aurora needs help counting its homeless people population.

City officials held meetings Tuesday and Wednesday with information for people interested in volunteering for the city’s annual point in time homeless count in late January.

The count, which happens in January each year in the city and across the country, is required for the city to get federal funding, according to Emily Fuller, the city’s community engagement coordinator for homelessness programs. She organized and ran Wednesday’s informational meeting.

It gives the city an estimate of how many people are homeless, their demographics, and reasons for being homeless so they can “best address homelessness and plan for solutions,” Fuller said.

While the count gets a comprehensive number of people outside on one day of the year, it undercounts by about 50 percent, Fuller said.

This is largely due to weather, since the count is taken during a particularly cold time of year when many people are staying with friends, in hospitals or hotels and may not be living on the street but are still homeless, Fuller said.

During the January 2023 count, it was zero degrees outside, she said.

The event in 2024 will happen from 6 a.m. until about 11 a.m. Jan. 23.

Volunteers meet at the Aurora Municipal Center, where they are split into groups of at least two people and assigned one of ten zones to cover.

Groups will then go out and collect data through survey questions about demographics, where people slept the night before and what services they engage in.

The sizes of zones differ depending on how big the homeless population in each area tends to be, Fuller said.

Volunteer groups designate one driver and one person to keep a lookout for homeless encampments to stop at, where they announce themselves and ask each person there if they are willing to answer the survey questions.

People are not required to answer the questions, Fuller said. In cases where the questions are not answered, volunteers are asked to make their best guesses about demographics, such as making their best guess on someone’s age group.

“We don’t want to push people,” Fuller said. “We are stepping into folks’ living spaces and we want to be respectful.”

Last year, Fuller got about 50 volunteers they split into 25 groups, she said. This year, they hope for similar numbers.

There are several requirements for PIT count volunteers, including being at least 18-years-old, attending a preparation training, being comfortable communicating with a wide range of people, willingness to use personal vehicles and phones, and a willingness to be understanding and sensitive to the trauma homeless people may be facing, Fuller said.

While volunteers are responsible for surveying people and handing out resource cards if someone asks for help, they are not responsible for more personal needs. That includes things like responding to peoples’ concerns and comments, answering housing and services questions or providing someone with direct assistance, Fuller said.

Volunteers are also asked to show up no matter the weather, since the count is very important to the city and its federal funding, she said.

There are currently 35 volunteer positions still open and those interested in volunteering can sign up on the city’s volunteer portal.

Fuller will host more informational meetings in January for people who missed the meetings Tuesday and Wednesday. She did not know when they will be, but more information will be available on the city’s website.

The PIT count from 2023, taken on Jan. 30, showed a total of 572 homeless people in Aurora, 409 of whom were “sheltered” — meaning in emergency shelters, transitional housing or safe haven programs — and 163 of whom were “unsheltered.”

By comparison, Denver saw the biggest increase in the number of homeless people — 5,818 as of January, up from 4,794 last year. Meanwhile, El Paso County saw a 17 percent drop in its homeless population — from a high of 1,562 in 2019 to 1,302 in January.

According to their count, two in five people surveyed were first-time homeless and one-in-four were chronically homeless.

Native Americans, or Alaska Natives, are almost five times overrepresented in homelessness relative to their makeup of the general population, the 2023 count also showed.

Black people were over two times overrepresented, according to the count.

Aurora offers between 130 and 150 shelter beds available on any given night, according to the city’s website. The city is up to 8,500 affordable housing units short.

The City Council has been discussing staff recommendations to fund homeless services next year. The recommendations include significant funding cuts to these services due to funding levels decreasing this year, specifically from lower marijuana tax revenue, and expiring COVID dollars.

The recommendations appear to reflect a shift in the city’s priorities, as some of the funding would instead go to behavioral and recovery programs, as well as domestic violence services.

The city’s homelessness division has about $2 million available and reviewed 25 applications from nonprofit and faith-based organizations and public agencies, whose funding requests added up to more than $5 million.