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MATS has the results from its annual Point in Time count which was conducted last month.

MATS is part of a 12 County Continuum of Care body that promotes community wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness.

The Continuum conducts PIT counts yearly around the fourth week of January, this year MATS completed it in Hamblen County on January 26th.

“We split Hamblen County up and assigned specific areas to five different teams and they tackled their areas and made the count possible,” said Executive Director Tonya Polidoro.

The count could not have been as successful without the help those from the community.

“We want to recognize everyone who assisted us in the count this year: Jay Landers, Nick Cline, Josh Stevenson, Abby Vannoy, Shawna Sims, Marcus Whitt, Officer Dustin Jones, Officer Sutton, Anthony Norton, Officer Derrick Johnson, Margie Wright, Sheila Pickard, and Central Services. We appreciate all that you did to help us get the best count possible”

She also wants to give a special thank you to local enforcement for aiding in the count.

“A special thank you to Deputy Chief Michelle Jones of the Morristown Police Department for reaching out to offer to help with the count this year.”

PIT counts are a critical source of data on the number and characteristics of people who are homeless in the United States. The data is used to measure homelessness on a local and national level.

All counties in each state must complete a count and participation is important because it gives data on which State and County has the most homeless; which helps Washington determine how much each state needs for funding to help toward the mitigation of homelessness.

MATS is a private nonprofit and is not run by the state or local government. The organization does not get money for each person counted, or each person served in their program.

Polidoro reported the count resulted in finding 117 sheltered and unsheltered people in Hamblen County experiencing homelessness.

Adults made up 83% of that count, followed by 13% being unaccompanied youth, and 4% being children. Of that count 59% were male, 40% were female, and 1% were transgender.

Mental illness is prevalent within the homeless population in Hamblen County where 36% admitted mental illness, 33% refused to answer that question, and 31% reported not having a mental illness.

Compared to last year’s numbers, the amount of people experiencing homelessness has increased from 107 individuals that were counted in last year’s PIT count.

MATS is an agency of the United Way.