People in Arapahoe County experiencing homelessness have been counted and connected

On a sunny January day across Colorado's Front Range, volunteers, city and county workers and community partners took a point-in-time count of people experiencing homelessness -- a count that provides valuable data for local municipalities to receive proper funding to handle the homeless crises in their areas.

In Arapahoe County, workers drove around to different homeless hotspots to not only take count but to also help connect the unhoused people they encountered with critical resources.

"We want to try to get their information, but we want to get their story, as well, so we can really understand what got them in that situation, and what we can do to help them get out of that situation," explained Cameron Shropshire, the program administrator for Housing and Homeless Services with Arapahoe County.

In addition to field outreach, centers were also set up across the county on Jan. 23 for the count -- including one on the county's eastern plains for the first time -- where unhoused people could get snacks, blankets, clothing and life-saving products like Narcan and fentanyl test strips. 

Shropshire said some people they encountered on the streets during field outreach later showed up at the resource centers, happy to have some assistance. 

But this kind of work isn't a one-day-only effort. County homeless liaisons and housing coordinators conduct field outreach all year round after Arapahoe County Commissioners established the Homeless Coordinating Committee. The committee works in partnership with over 100 local organizations and government agencies to try to help unhoused people get back on track. 

County officials tell CBS News Colorado the Homeless Coordinating Committee strategic plan is expected to be adopted this year for implementation. 

"Ultimately, trying to find what it's going to take to get them to a level of housing readiness, and what services or agencies can collaborate to help that individual or that family," Shropshire said.

The count is conducted in coordination with seven metro area counties through the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative and is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In the 2023 point-in-time count, just under 1,000 people in Arapahoe County were found to be experiencing homelessness. 

Some homeless experts also doing field outreach Tuesday said there's been an uptick in homeless populations in Centennial lately, but official numbers from Tuesday's count won't be available until later this year. To see more numbers from 2023, click here.