WVU in the News: W.Va. counts its homeless population

There were more than 580,000 people experiencing homelessness in the United States in 2020. That number is precise because each year, the federal government requires all states, including West Virginia, to count the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night. In Morgantown, volunteers met around 9 p.m. outside the Morgantown Public Library to conduct the annual Point in Time Count, a survey of all homeless and unhouse people in the country. Annie McVey, a graduate of the B.S. in Public Health program, describes who exactly she’s looking for.

“Homeless… meaning they have like nowhere else to go, they can't safely couch hop, they wouldn't be able to just crash with a friend for the night. Like they've literally nowhere else to go other than the street,” she said.

Michael McCawley, a clinical associate professor at WVU’s School of Public Health, worked alongside volunteers. It may be another night, as McCawley said, but the information he helped collect will give advocates for the unhoused the funds and data to provide housing and healthcare for some of West Virginia's most vulnerable.

Read the full story from the West Virginia Public Broadcasting.