Terry Burdett, ARCH HMIS Coordinator, Featured in News Story

Terry Burdett, HMISDirector at ARCH, was the PIT Coordinator for this year's Point-in-Time count. He was featured in a news story about the increase in homelessness in Greene County.

Here’s an excerpt:

GREENE COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) – The Appalachian Regional Coalition on Homelessness (ARCH) conducted its annual Point in Time (PIT) count of people experiencing homelessness in the area.

Greene County was one of the rural counties that saw an increase in the number of homeless people.

Mike Hartsall, vice chair for CANUP, an organization working to help unhoused people in the community, said last year their number was 26 but he believes this year their number will exceed 50.

“We’ve changed our approach in how we get the information,” Hartsall said. “We have changed how we look for them and find them. I think they were probably here last year but it’s how you’re looking and that makes a difference.”

Hartsall told News Channel 11 that he believes this number will be higher because there are more organizations and individuals in the area who have connections with people in the homeless community.

“We’ve had some tremendous opportunities with companion organizations,” Hartsall said. “Part of the church community has given us a hand, the C.A.R.E center that’s involved in feeding and providing some day shelter for folks has given us the opportunity to identify individuals.”

Hartsall said it’s hard to identify how many people are homeless because some of them go unnoticed.

“We see those who are out on the street but that’s just the tip,” said Hartsall. “But the other part of the iceberg is seen a lot of times in our communities through our schools, because there are kids both in the county and city school systems which are at risk for shelter.”

Terry Burdett, PIT count coordinator for ARCH, said not all unhoused people are living on the streets…

Click to read the rest of the report or watch the video of Terry’s interview.