One of the most important methodological decisions in a PiT Count is where to conduct the count. Traditionally, a PiT Count – at minimum – involves an unsheltered and sheltered count. However, communities across Canada and the US have begun to expand the scope of their counts to include service counts and, sometimes, magnet events. These complementary approaches are especially useful to capture hidden homelessness.

A Focus on Youth

Generally, unsheltered and sheltered counts are not sufficient to capture the extent of youth homelessness in a community. Youth are more likely to experience homelessness out of sight, and as noted, are more likely to couch-surf. As such, a Youth Count requires a mix of strategies. This Toolkit focuses on five Youth Count components: the street count, the shelter count, the service count, magnet events and the public systems count. Use the Canadian Definition of Youth Homelessness and the Homelessness Typology to determine which components your Youth Count will include.

TABLE 5. YOUTH COUNT COMPONENTS

Component	Description
Street Count	A street count takes place generally over a few hours, often in the evening, overnight or early in the morning. Volunteers walk the entire community or to designated “hot spots” to enumerate and survey individuals that are experiencing homelessness. The purpose of the street count is to enumerate unsheltered homelessness.
Shelter & Transitional Count	A shelter count takes place at night, when youth have arrived at the shelter for the evening. Volunteers and/or shelter staff deliver the Youth Count survey to willing participants. In addition to the surveys, shelter staff provide administrative data that indicates the number of youth staying in the shelter on the night of the count. The transitional count happens much the same way. The purpose of the shelter count is to enumerate sheltered homelessness. The transitional count is intended to capture youth in provisional accommodation.
Service Count	A service count generally takes place in the day, or when services are open. A service count is not limited to homelessness-serving agencies. Service counts often take place in food banks, at bottle depots, in libraries and at drop-in centres. Volunteers and/or service staff deliver the Youth Count surveys. The service count can capture many different forms of homelessness.
Magnet Events	The purpose of the magnet event is to survey youth who may not otherwise be counted, such as youth in remote areas or those who are couch-surfing. They usually have some combination of food, resources, entertainment and service referrals. At the magnet event, youth can choose to complete a Youth Count survey with a volunteer. Magnet events occur at any time during the Youth Count. For more information about magnet events, refer to the Youth Count! Process Study.
Public Systems Counts	Public systems counts are conducted in hospitals, detox centres and juvenile correctional facilities.  Facilities willing to participate provide organizers with the number of people in their facility, on the night of the count, that are without a fixed address. Some facilities may be willing to conduct Youth Count surveys, but it is more common to simply receive “a count” rather than survey data. The purpose of the public systems count is to enumerate youth who are provisionally accommodated (see Canadian Definition of Homelessness 3.3)

The following section provides step-by-step instructions on how to plan for each of the five Youth Count components. Decide which components are priorities in your Youth Count. Remember, each component captures a different type of youth homelessness. The Youth Count Coordinator, the Lead Agency and the Youth Count Committee should first agree on the scope of the count, then determine how best to measure it.

Street Count

Step 1: Determine Coverage Strategy

Hint! Do not assume that there are no youth in your community sleeping outside or in abandoned buildings, parks or tents. All Youth Counts should incorporate an unsheltered component.

There are three different ways to conduct a street count. First, you can send surveyors to known locations where youth congregate or sleep. Alternatively, you can divide your entire community into sectors and have surveyors deployed to each one. Finally, you can do a combination of both. You can find an explanation of each method in the COH PiT Count Toolkit: Identifying Locations.

For the purposes of the Youth Count, a known locations method is likely the most appropriate. A full coverage option requires significant resources and youth could still be missed.

Step 2: Identify Known Locations

The success of your street count relies on strong partnership and consultation with youth-serving agencies, stakeholders and most importantly, youth that are or have experienced homelessness. Your Youth Count Committee, especially the Youth Subcommittee, will provide you with a wealth of information on where youth can be found sleeping. Take a map of your community to various stakeholders and ask them to identify priority areas. Note: there may be some locations where it is best to send outreach workers rather than volunteers (e.g. rural encampments). For more information on mapping, including full coverage strategies, refer to the COH PiT Count Toolkit.

To identify known locations, you must:

• Engage outreach workers, police, EMS, bylaw and parks officers, businesses and others to help you identify 'hot spots' for the night of the count;
• Undertake walkabouts in advance of a count date to identify and confirm known locations;
• Consult homeless persons to get a sense of where to canvass and how to approach potential interviewees, especially in camps.

– Excerpt from the COH PiT Count Toolkit

Shelter & Transitional Count

Step 1: Take Inventory

To conduct shelter and transitional counts, you need a list of all the emergency shelters and transitional housing programs in your community. It is important to include youth and adult-serving shelters, as the definition of youth is up to age 24. For each program, note the bed capacity. You will need this information to determine how many volunteers to recruit.

Helpful Resource Conducting a Shelter Count (Infographic & Tip Sheet), developed by HPS and COH.

Step 2: Choose a Data Collection Method

Similar to the street count, there are multiple ways to conduct the shelter and transitional counts. Remember, a Youth Count yields two types of information, a count and survey data. The count is the number of youth experiencing homelessness on the selected night. The survey provides data on the experiences of youth that are homeless when surveyed. At a minimum, shelters you identified in your inventory need to provide you with the number of youth that stayed in their shelter and/or transitional housing on the night of the count. But, ideally, you will also conduct Youth Count surveys with those staying in youth-dedicated shelters. Refer to the COH PiT Count Toolkit: Emergency Shelter & Transitional Bed Counts for a full explanation of each of the data collection options.

Other tips:

• Provide shelters, especially those serving adults, with your definition of youth homelessness, including the target age range. The shelter occupancy
  

  Helpful Resource Download a guide on developing a Shelter & Transitional Housing Enumeration Form.

  on the night of the count should include only those that fall within your target age range – the COH recommends up to age 24.

• Some youth-serving shelters have a number of dedicated transitional beds. Agencies should indicate the emergency bed occupancy and the transitional bed occupancy separately. You will require this information when you delineate the data in your Youth Count report. Refer to the sample Shelter & Transitional Housing Enumeration Form in the COH PiT Count Toolkit.
• Work with the Violence Against Women shelters (VAW) to determine the number of youth they had staying on the night of the count. For safety reasons, it is usually undesirable to send survey volunteers to the shelter. Instead, staff can administer the Youth Count survey, or simply send a count of the number of clients 24 and under.

Service Count

Step 1: Take Inventory

In consultation with your stakeholders, especially youth, create a list of services where youth – especially those experiencing homelessness – are likely to be. Put particular emphasis on services for Indigenous youth and LGBTQ2 youth. Unlike the shelter count inventory, the service list does not need to be exhaustive. Instead, pick services where you will encounter a high density of youth. Drop-in programs, food programs, malls and libraries can be popular locations.

Step 2: Work with Service Providers

Not all service providers will be willing to participate. We recommend that you convene an information session and invite target service providers to learn about the

Hint! Adding a service count or magnet event will increase the likelihood of duplication. Due to the complexity of the Youth Count methodology, we recommend that all communities use unique identifiers.

Youth Count and what it entails. Find out from service providers when they have the highest volume of youth in attendance. This will help you to determine when to schedule the service count (within your defined Youth Count period). Similar to the shelter count, service providers can administer the Youth Count surveys themselves – over a set time period – or you can provide volunteers. The first option is most practical for those communities that are conducting a Youth Count over multiple days. Note: administrative data from service providers is not necessary.

Magnet Events

Step 1: Identify a Location

 Choose a service location to host the Youth Count magnet event. It is best to avoid dedicated homeless- serving agencies. Instead, opt for general youth-serving agencies. Youth drop-in centres are good venues, though not all communities have these. In some communities, it may be desirable and feasible to conduct multiple concurrent magnet events.

Step 2: Plan the Event

Helpful Resource Refer to the Youth Count! Process Study to learn more about youth magnet events in other communities.

The magnet event should attract youth from a range of housing circumstances. To encourage attendance, the event must be attractive and engaging to youth. Movies, food, BBQs, activities, giveaways and referrals to services are good options. We recommend working closely with your Youth Subcommittee to plan, execute and promote the magnet events. 

Hint! Magnet events should not be branded as events for homeless youth. In fact, the key benefit of a magnet event is to attract youth that are couch-surfing – many of whom do not consider themselves homeless. Instead, the magnet event should be presented as fun and inviting.

Step 3: Promote

Dedicate adequate time and resources to promoting your magnet event(s). Promote the event to as many agencies as possible. Provide services, schools and youth with information cards to circulate. The cards should contain details about the event and information about the Youth Count. You should state that everyone is welcome and that participation in the Youth Count survey is not mandatory. Engage your Youth Subcommittee to develop a social media strategy to promote the event. Ask your Youth Subcommittee to encourage their peers to attend, especially those who do not utilize youth services. 

Public Systems Count

Step 1: Take Inventory

First, develop a list of public systems that you want to include in your Youth Count. Hospitals, treatment centres, juvenile correctional facilities and holding cells are good options. Next, identify key contacts in each of these systems. In many instances, it may take considerable time and planning to make the required connections. Where possible, leverage the relationships of your Youth Count Committee and other stakeholders. 

Step 2: Determine Data Requirements

For those facilities or systems that are willing to participate, work with them to determine the best approach to collect data on youth without a fixed address. As a minimum, you will need the number of youth without a fixed address on the night of the count. In some cases, you may obtain additional information, such as age and gender. For more information on public systems refer to the COH PiT Count Toolkit: Adding to the Count.

Building Alignment: Tips & Strategies

There are a number of ways to conduct a combined general PiT Count and a Youth Count. The approach that you take will depend on the existing PiT Count methodology in your community. In communities with a traditional count methodology, comprised of a street count and a shelter count, Youth Count organizers may increase the representation of youth by organizing additional count components, such as service counts and magnet events (example 1). Alternatively, if the general PiT Count methodology includes a service count component, Youth Count organizers may choose to add youth-specific service counts and magnet events over a longer time period (example 2). Work with the PiT Count organizers in your community to develop a methodology that meets the requirements of both counts.

COMBINING A GENERAL PIT COUNT AND A YOUTH COUNT