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In Caroline County alone, approximately 142 people were reported to be in attendance on Wednesday. Jimmy Morris, continuum of care housing specialist for Mid-Shore Behavioral Health, said the count in Dorchester County recorded its highest ever number of people experiencing homelessness. Finalized numbers for the Mid-Shore will not be available for several weeks.

Morris said large efforts were made to reach this specific population, from media outreach to visiting encampments. He said this larger effort was made due to the growing population of homelessness on the Shore.

Over the last few years, the population of people experiencing homelessness has skyrocketed on the Eastern Shore, and organizations focused on assisting this population are working to have a proper count in order to better secure funds to provide resources.

Ashley Kessinger, continuum care manager at Mid-Shore Behavioral Health, said this winter the organization’s shelters were filled with people trying to stay warm.

“It’s been a crisis,� Kessinger said. “Our shelters are completely full, and they stay full all the time. They’re all working off of waitlists. They’re all trying to find other ways so that people that come to them, don’t have to turn them away. But they’re just full and we don’t have enough.�

According to Kessinger, the results of the data gathered by each jurisdiction will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and can be used to secure grant funding.

Yvette Robinson, grant manager at Neighborhood Service Center, was distributing information at the Fredrick Douglas room of the Talbot County Free Library in Easton, one of the locations for the county Wednesday. Robinson said homelessness on the Eastern Shore looks different in comparison to homelessness in major cities. One of those contributing factors, she said, is resources.

“The numbers are growing, the resources are not,� Robinson said. “We rely on community partners to try to collaborate so that we can see what’s working, what may not be working …we’re just trying to get the information out that there are variable resources.�

According to Robinson, since Nov. 24, 2024, Neighborhood Service Center has given out 9,000 pounds of food and served over 600 families, a majority of which were homeless.

Kessinger said a contributing factor to the growing homeless population has been a lack of affordable housing on the shore. Many of the people served at Mid-Shore Behavioral Health either have no income or they receive funds from Social Security which can be about $900 a month.

A lack of affordable housing has made the issue worse but it is the mark of homelessness that will make it difficult to get landlords to consider working on affordable housing alternatives.

In her experience, there are some landlords that refuse to help customers that her organization works with because the customers have experienced homelessness. Kessinger said there is an assumption that the customers will be bad tenants or bad people in general.

For Kessinger, everyone deserves help and people shouldn’t treat those experiencing homelessness differently because of their circumstance because it can happen to anyone at any time.

“People think homelessness looks a certain way and we have seen people from all walks of life and it does not look a certain way,� Kessinger said. “There’s a lot of stigma on the shore about homelessness and some people just don’t want to see it. If they come across an encampment or something like that, they just want it to go away. …everyone deserves a chance to have a home.�