{"id":133801,"date":"2026-01-14T22:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T22:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/133801\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T22:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T22:46:10","slug":"volunteers-needed-for-annual-homeless-point-in-time-count","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/133801\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteers needed for annual homeless Point-in-Time count"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timesofsandiego.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Point-in-Time-Count.jpg?ssl=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"501\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Point-in-Time-Count.jpg\" alt=\"Volunteer counting homeless\" class=\"wp-image-236654\"  \/><\/a>A volunteer in Vista counts people living on the streets. (File photo courtesy of County News Center)<\/p>\n<p>San Diego County on Wednesday encouraged residents to volunteer for the annual <a href=\"http:\/\/rtfhsd.org\/about-coc\/weallcount-pitc\/.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Point-in-Time Count<\/a>, a snapshot of the region\u2019s homeless population set for Jan. 29.<\/p>\n<p>Around 300 county employees volunteer for the pre-dawn count each year, but it takes  around 1,700 total volunteers to participate.<\/p>\n<p>The annual Point-in-Time Count,  from 4-8 a.m., is coordinated by San Diego\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rtfhsd.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Regional Task Force on Homelessness<\/a> and provides a one-day total of the number of people experiencing homelessness in the county, including those in emergency shelters and safe parking lots.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Point-in-Time Count is a vital tool that helps us understand homelessness in our community and shape how we approach solutions,\u201d said Dijana Beck, director of the County Office of Homeless Solutions. \u201cEvery volunteer plays a critical role in ensuring we have accurate data to secure resources and create programs that make a real difference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the number of people experiencing homelessness in the county dropped by 7%, with a drop of about 14% in the city of San Diego, according to the data. The volunteers found 9,905 people experiencing homelessness throughout the county, down from 10,605 in 2024. <\/p>\n<p>Last year\u2019s data showed 5,714 unsheltered San Diegans, with 4,191 individuals in shelters and transitional housing.<\/p>\n<p>The task force organizes and trains volunteers. Those who sign up go out in small groups to help conduct a brief survey and do a headcount of people they encounter living outside. Volunteers can select designated areas to participate, according to a county statement.<\/p>\n<p>The information collected is used to apply for federal and state funding.<\/p>\n<p>READ NEXT\n\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A volunteer in Vista counts people living on the streets. (File photo courtesy of County News Center) San&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[969,1493,61773,74,76,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-133801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-homeless","9":"tag-homelessness","10":"tag-point-in-time-count","11":"tag-san-diego","12":"tag-san-diego-headlines","13":"tag-san-diego-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}