One-thousand eighty-seven -- that’s how many people on Guam were without a place to call home or living in substandard conditions in 2022.

The number came from the Guam Homeless Coalition’s annual Point In Time count homeless survey last January.

Guam Homeless Coalition Chair Samantha Taitano is back out in the streets with her team to see if that number went up.

"Today we have over 200, almost 300 volunteers that are out conducting surveys all throughout the island," she said. "They started as early as 4 a.m. and we’re still out here at 1:40 and we’ll be out here for a little while longer. We’re just kind of doing the surveys in areas that are known to have homeless individuals or substandard housing."

The definition of homelessness changed to include those living in makeshift structures not meant for human habitation, Taitano said.

This team of volunteers targeted those areas in the village of Yigo going street to street.

One of those volunteers is Micronesian Resource Center Project Director Joiel Setik.

"I know a lot of people that are either transitioning into homelessness because of the COVID-19 and the best thing to do is to provide the services to prevent them from falling into homelessness," he said.

He’s been volunteering with the Guam Homeless Coalition since 2019. After witnessing many people losing their jobs during the pandemic, he’s all the more determined to provide all the help he can.

"It’s a responsibility for the service providers to tackle that barrier and providing services like doing this PIT count," Setik said. "Or to go out and look for those that need help and then after this I’m going to do referrals to hopefully to get the needs and services to those families."

Taitano adds that this year’s Point In Time count will help the homeless coalition understand the impacts of the pandemic on the island’s homelessness– and assist in providing federal funding to help those in need.