Eastern's researchers presented 10 months of research that contributed to Spokane's county-wide census for the homeless population.
CHENEY- Eastern Washington University's (EWU) urban and regional planning program presented 10 months of research at a community event last Wednesday contributing to the Point-in-Time Count- a county-wide census for Spokane's homeless population.
Daniel Ramos, a member of Spokane's Community Housing and Homing Services board, was searching for an academic component for this census and got in touch with Matthew Anderson, an associate professor and director of the urban and regional planning program at EWU.
Anderson had already been conducting research on homelessness and oversaw Eastern's engagement in the census.
In September 2021 graduate students in urban and regional planning joined the research project and began their leg-work. Once everything was ready to go, they began constructing their survey- the group's main contribution to the PIT count.
"The main thing that we ended up focusing our attention on was the survey- the questions that get asked to unhoused people during the PIT count," Anderson said. "The department of housing and urban development mandates that we ask 23 basic demographic questions, but each city or county can put out additional questions to the survey."
The additional questions EWU researchers added to the survey were more individualized than basic demographic questions.
"We asked 'where did you last live when you became homeless?' We already knew that over 90% of homeless people became homeless in the place where they were already living," Anderson said. "The main reason we asked that question was to get a sense of what neighborhoods could be functioning as homeless production centers."
EWU researchers took these questions and conducted a total of 1,575 one-on-one interviews with sheltered and unsheltered homeless people in Spokane.
Researchers then analyzed the data to gain an understanding of the local dynamic of the issue.
"If there's a concluding message from this research, it's that housing has become unaffordable," Anderson said. "Spokane has entered that category of city that is like Seattle, Portland, L.A. and New York."
The research and data analysis was presented to nearly 150 community members at the Spokane County Library last Wednesday.
Anna Staal, a graduate student assistant researcher, said the turn out of the presentation on Wednesday gave her hope for the future of combating homelessness in the region.
"There were a lot of regular community members there and that was really encouraging," Staal said. "Everyone was there because they wanted to see a difference."
One of Staal's co-workers, Graham Zickefoose, was also motivated by people's eagerness to learn and engage with the research they had presented.
Staal said there was a lot of new knowledge that the research and research experience provided her with.
"I learned a ton about the challenges that are open to homeless people," Staal said. "Before this, I didn't have any form of reference and it has been huge to learn that. Even learning that, there's still a lot that I don't know."
The work didn't stop last Wednesday.
Anderson and his team will conduct research on homelessness again later this year Anderson hopes this can become a long term research project that will allow for a deeper dive into the data collection and analysis to track the change of things over time.
"It has been a very valuable opportunity to be a part of this to see the inner workings of this process and see how it can be used to help people experiencing homelessness," Zickefoose said.
Michaela is a former newsroom intern at the Cheney Free Press. She covered stories on education, city government, cops/courts/fire departments and local businesses.
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