Members of east Fort Worth\u2019s DRC Solutions asked Richie and others experiencing homelessness for demographic information: name, age, gender, race and veteran status. They also asked those they met where they had lived before and why they were experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n
The questions are optional. Richie had the choice to only answer prompts when he felt comfortable sharing. Others encountered during the night declined to share their demographic information, saying it didn\u2019t feel worthwhile, but anonymously shared their personal stories with volunteers.<\/p>\n
Richie felt willing to speak vulnerably that night because homelessness can impact anyone, he said.<\/p>\n
Still, he acknowledged that it\u2019s difficult to be candid as he teared up talking about his children.<\/p>\n
Richie\u2019s 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son have been staying with his mother-in-law since he was evicted from his apartment, he said. His voice cracked as he shared that he hadn\u2019t seen them in months.<\/p>\n
While data collected during the count serves as a \u201chistorical look\u201d back on people experiencing homelessness and can help advocate for federal funding, other data gathered by the group helps guide decisions on how to help Tarrant County families in need, said Lauren King, CEO of Partnership Home.<\/p>\n
Partnership Home\u2019s various assessments aim to better understand and meet the needs of individuals based on their circumstances and what barriers they face when trying to find housing, she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything that might be a barrier to housing that a case manager needs to understand to help them figure out how to get out of homelessness, that assessment better tells you kind of what clients need,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n
The count draws hundreds of volunteers in Tarrant and Parker counties who group up with police to survey an officer\u2019s patrol area and look for people who may be experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n
![\"Israel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769183374_432_.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Maria Crane<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America<\/p>\n
Israel Guajardo, 30, cooks his dinner over a campfire in Fort Worth on Jan. 22, 2026. Guajardo is one of several people experiencing homelessness who was surveyed for Tarrant County\u2019s annual Point in Time Count. <\/p>\n
Sporting hiking boots and a backpack full of hygiene kits, hand warmers and other supplies, Fort Worth resident Margo Allen led a group of three other volunteers with a police officer through the West 7th Street area.<\/p>\n
Allen has helped with the count for a decade. Between her job working as a registered nurse and serving warm food during Broadway Baptist Church\u2019s Agape Meal<\/a>, she encounters a lot of people experiencing homelessness. Participating in the count each year speaks to both her professional and personal life because they are all \u201cGod\u2019s beloved children,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we aren\u2019t showing up and being good to people who need advocacy and justice and compassion, then my faith is useless to me,\u201d Allen said. \u201cThat\u2019s how Jesus lived his life and hung out with people who weren\u2019t just the fancy people.\u201d<\/p>\n In Allen\u2019s group was Spencer Maxwell who was volunteering for the count for the first time. He said he wanted to participate to \u201clearn more about my community.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI just wanted to see things that I haven\u2019t seen before and understand what goes on, kind of under my nose, that I\u2019m not familiar with, that people are experiencing in my community,\u201d Maxwell said after encountering two individuals near the Cultural District.<\/p>\n Across town in Worth Heights, Tony Wilson said the count\u2019s greatest value is community engagement and education. Wilson is the executive director of DRC Solutions, whose staff conducts daily outreach to people experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n \u201cVolunteers that never have to see how our neighbors live on the streets, going out there and seeing it firsthand can help dispel some of these myths and stereotypes that we often see,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n At about 7 p.m., Wilson\u2019s group encountered Israel Guajardo, 30, sitting cross-legged in the grass. He spoke softly as he stoked the small campfire warming up his dinner.<\/p>\n Accepting hand warmers from a group, he said he\u2019d probably spend the weekend at his campsite despite the inclement weather. Little things like the warmers can be a lifeline, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cJust giving out money or food or clothes helps,\u201d Guajardo said. \u201cEverything helps.\u201d<\/p>\n Maria Crane is a multimedia journalist for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at maria.crane@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n This article<\/a> first appeared on Fort Worth Report<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Standing outside a Worth Heights convenience store Thursday night, Fort Worth resident Darren Richie spoke freely about his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":{"0":"post-135200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arlington","8":"tag-arlington","9":"tag-arlington-headlines","10":"tag-arlington-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}