Hundreds of volunteers will hit the streets Tuesday night across Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties to begin the annual Point-in-Time survey, which catalogues the number of individuals experiencing homelessness on a single night in the three counties.
How it works
The Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County and The Way Home have been conducting the annual survey since 2011. The survey provides a snapshot of sheltered and unsheltered individuals experiencing homelessness year-over-year.
Volunteers will count sheltered individuals Feb. 23 as the official “night of record,” according to a Feb. 20 news release. Meanwhile, the unsheltered portion of the count will take place over three days—Feb. 24-26.
Volunteers will conduct brief, conversational surveys with individuals who were unsheltered on the night of Feb. 23 and document their housing needs, per the release.
Why it matters
The count is typically a part of a federal funding process for local homelessness response systems like The Way Home.
“While federal requirements are evolving, CFTH continues to conduct the count because it remains a critical planning and coordination tool,” the news release states. “The count helps identify service gaps, geographic shifts and emerging needs across the region and allows the community to track trends over time using a consistent methodology.”
By the numbers
Statistics for the 2025 PIT Count were released in late September. The survey showed that homelessness in the Houston area remained steady compared to 2024. However, there was a jump in chronic homelessness, previous Community Impact coverage reported.
From Jan. 28-30, 2025, Harris County was reported to have 3,000 homeless individuals, with Montgomery County showing 78 individuals and Fort Bend County showing 247.
Some context
The 2025 count was conducted several months before Houston Mayor John Whitmire announced his $70 million plan to end street homelessness by 2026, which happened in late November.
The two-year pilot program was launched to help address rapid rehousing issues, find permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless individuals, create a mental health hub, and extend outreach and diversion.
However, despite the efforts, a representative with the Coalition said the nonprofit would not be surprised to see a “modest increase” in the number of people experiencing homelessness, citing the rising cost of living and the end of pandemic-era federal funding as reasons why the homelessness response system may not have been able to rehouse people as quickly as in recent years.
Stay tuned
Results of the PIT Count will be released later this summer.