1,413 people experienced homelessness in El Paso County on January 24, according to the annual Point in Time Count. Of those, 439 slept in beds at Springs Rescue Mission that night.El Paso County has 1,218 shelter beds in total, according to the count and 1,290 total housing beds.Springs Rescue Mission CEO Travis Williams said the organization remains committed to getting as many people off the streets as possible."We will bend and stretch to do everything we can to get as many people off the streets as possible," Williams said.Williams said the mission does not slow down regardless of what the numbers show year to year."The numbers sometimes go up, they sometimes go down, but something that doesn't ever stop is the work that we're doing here in the community," Williams said.Beth Roalstad, CEO of Homeward Pikes Peak, said the count showed a drop of 19% of unhoused people compared to last year, but she is skeptical the decrease reflects what is actually happening in the community."When I saw the data from this year, it made me ponder why was there a drop of a pretty significant number, about 300, because the overall numbers of people we're serving is the same or even higher from last year," Roalstad said.Roalstad said the timing of the count may have skewed the results."This week of January was a particularly bitterly cold week, and I think that these numbers don't reflect the accurate data for our community. So this is an anomaly," Roalstad said.According to the count, overnight temperatures fell below 0F, with wind chills reaching as low as -25F. Roalstad said she would like to see a longer study done to give an even better understanding of the amount of unhoused people in El Paso County.Despite some questions about the data, both leaders pointed to programs making progress. Homeward Pikes Peak partners with the Downtown Partnership on a Clean and Safe Pilot Program and sends outreach teams into the community six days a week."We go out to interact and to engage individuals experiencing homelessness. We do some crisis intervention, some triage, and we help direct them towards those solutions and resources," Roalstad said.They also have transitional housing and opportunities for people to work on their mental health, receiving the help they need to succeed.Springs Rescue Mission offers career training programs to help people experiencing homelessness build skills and find employment, including training to become a chef, a janitor, or most recently a barista."Somebody who is in our barista training program, they're at a job fair today seeking employment, and those are the kind of stories that really get us excited," Williams said.Williams said the mission is to provide whatever they can for any stage of homelessness."To meet people where they're at and at the same time give as many opportunities as we possibly can," Williams said.Both Roalstad and Williams acknowledged that more work remains."When someone is ready, getting them into care in a timely way is still a challenge in our community," Roalstad said. ...read more read less