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Continuum of Care chair urges volunteers and cross‑agency collaboration after PIT count
Summary
Dr. Deborah Harris, chair of the Cumberland County Continuum of Care, briefed the Hope Mills Board on homelessness response work, distinguishing annual Point-in-Time counts from year-round assistance (383 counted in PIT 2025 vs. 845 people assisted in seven months) and asked the town for volunteer help and partnership to improve counts and services.
Dr. Deborah Harris, chair of the Cumberland County Continuum of Care (COC), asked the Hope Mills Board of Commissioners for continued collaboration and volunteer support as the COC works to coordinate services and funding for people experiencing homelessness.
Harris explained that the annual Point‑in‑Time (PIT) count — which the COC reported at 383 people in 2025 for the county — captures a single-night snapshot used for HUD reporting, but that a seven‑month review of coordinated-entry data showed 845 individuals were assisted during that period. She warned that the PIT count can understate need and emphasized the difference between count methodology and the larger volume of people helped through the county’s coordinated systems.
Harris described three main challenges for accurate counts and for effective service provision: recruiting volunteers to staff the PIT count across a large county; public misinterpretation of the PIT number versus the broader caseload; and local ordinances that make it harder to count unsheltered people. She asked the town to support volunteer recruitment for the count and to continue building interagency communication channels that she said are essential to grant applications and to operating a coordinated-entry system.
Commissioners asked clarifying questions about timing and the PIT process; Harris confirmed the PIT count occurs in January each year and noted it can take three to six months for related data to be finalized and submitted to HUD. Mayor Jesse Belfflowers and other board members praised the presentation and acknowledged homelessness as a community concern, with the mayor noting that COC staff and local committees already coordinate on those issues.
The presentation concluded with a short video and an appeal from Harris for town participation: “This thing is bigger than any one of us,” she said, urging officials and residents to volunteer for counts and to partner on grant-ready, shovel‑ready projects that can draw state and federal funds.
