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VA Salt Lake City Homeless Team Uses Annual PIT Count to immediately Help Veterans

Two people in winter coats examine an item in the back of a car.
Sam Vincent and Jason Utley of VASLCHCS’s Homeless and Justice Clinical Resource Program, load up their car with blankets, coats, gloves and socks for homeless people they meet during the annual PIT count.

By Jeremy M. Laird, Public Affairs Officer

An army of hundreds of volunteers hit the streets of Salt Lake and surrounding counties at 4:00 a.m.-- among that army nearly 50 VA Salt Lake City Health Care System staff, who volunteered for the early morning duty.

The effort is part of the annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count, a federally mandated count of the sheltered and unsheltered homeless people on a single night in January. From January 28-31, the volunteers scour neighborhoods to seek out and count folks who spent the night of Wednesday, January 28th on the streets. 

Armed with flashlights, their cell phones, coats, gloves, hats, socks, bottles of water, and snacks, Sam Vincent and Jason Utley of VASLCHCS’s Homeless and Justice Clinical Resource Program (HJCR) along with Dr. Angela Williams, Executive Director of VASLCHCS, search the area around Utah State Fair Park. The group announces themselves as “homeless outreach” as they come upon people on the streets, in cars, or in RVs. They ask if the people are homeless and are open to answering a few questions as part of a survey. 

The Point-in-Time (PIT) Count isn’t just about numbers—it’s about helping homeless people. The information gathered by volunteer surveys is compiled into an annual report. Local, state, and federal officials rely on this data to allocate resources to help the homeless population. For the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System’s Homeless and Justice Clinical Resource Program (HJCR), that could potentially affect funding for programs like HUD/VASH. The PIT Count also gives the HJCR team the opportunity to immediately touch base with a homeless Veteran.

Among the questions on the survey, one is critically important for VA Salt Lake’s HJCR team, “Have you ever served in the United States Military?”

If a homeless person answers “yes” to this question, volunteers are instructed to immediately call the VA Salt Lake City’s HJCR team. Answering those calls is coordinated entry specialist, Meisha Jensen.

“If a volunteer comes across a Veteran, when they are out there providing the survey,” said Jensen. “The volunteers call me. I will get the name of the Veteran and their location, and our team will go out to chat with the Veteran.”  

From there the HJCR team can immediately start to work with the Veteran to see if they qualify for benefits.

Jensen says they have volunteers ask the question verbatim “Have you ever served in the United States Military?,” because some homeless Veterans will self-disqualify based off information they have been told in the past. 

“We also have programs that that can help regardless if a Veteran qualifies for VA healthcare,” Jensen said.

The total number of Veterans encountered won't be fully known until HUD releases the data. However, Jensen said volunteers encountered a homeless Veteran in rural Emery County and another in Salt Lake County, and the HJCR team is already working to get those two Veterans off the streets.

VA Salt Lake City’s Homeless and Justice Outreach Teams works year around to help homeless Veterans in our coverage area. From daily outreach on the streets to our annual homeless Veteran stand down and surge events, the HJCR team works every day toward the goal of ending Veteran homelessness. In 2025, the HJCR team helped 186 Veterans through the the HUD/VASH program and another 55 Veterans in the Grant & Per Diem Program

If you know of a homeless Veteran or just want to learn more about VA Salt Lake City Health Care System’s Homeless Veterans Justice Clinical Resource Program, visit their website at https://www.va.gov/salt-lake-city-health-care/health-services/homeless-veteran-care/ or call .