The number of people experiencing homelessness in Carbon County almost tripled between 2019 and 2020, according to a federally mandated count.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean homelessness is surging in the area; in fact, local nonprofits and a task force focused on the issue point to more coordination in their annual efforts to quantify Carbon’s homeless population.

“I wasn’t surprised at all. We knew that it was an issue. We just didn’t know how big of an issue it was,” said Christine LeClair, a member of the county’s homelessness task force. The task force was formed last year after LeClair, who also serves with the St. Vincent DePaul Society, brought the plight of a single, disabled woman named Yvonne to light.

The latest tally came after the Carbon County Action Committee, members of the task force, and other local groups took part in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Point-in-Time count, an annual, county-specific survey of homelessness.

A total of 60 people were found to be experiencing homelessness when this year’s count was taken in spring. To compare, 27 people were found to be homeless in 2018, and 22 were counted in 2019.

While LeClair said the county may be seeing a slight increase in people experiencing homelessness, this year’s staggering figure really isn’t surprising. Homelessness has been a pretty consistent problem in Carbon, she said.

“It’s just so hard to pin down, because it can vary from day to day,” LeClair said. “But I think it’s a pretty constant number.”

Painting a more accurate picture of homelessness in Carbon was “really a year in the making,” LeClair added. In the past, organizations worked hard to plan individual efforts. But many changed their methods this year.

Rather than going out solo, places like Family Promise of Carbon County, Carbon-Monroe-Pike Mental Health, the action committee and the St. Vincent DePaul Society worked together.

Krista Brown-Ly, director of the local Family Promise, doesn’t think that grouping would have been established if not for the Carbon County Homelessness Task Force.

“Personally, I think it played a large part,” Brown-Ly said.

“I don’t know that we would have a voice without the task force.”

Being an organization whose mission is serving the homeless families of Carbon, Brown-Ly said she thinks Family Promise has seen more of the problem than “what has been reported previously.”

And while an increase in people experiencing homelessness is not good news, this year’s count might better equip the county to address homelessness.

“It does make a difference for the resources that come into our county,” Brown-Ly said. “I think the increase from that perspective is positive.”