{"id":255180,"date":"2026-04-18T03:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T03:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/255180\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T03:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T03:13:13","slug":"hays-county-reports-homelessness-data-showing-increase-in-unsheltered-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/255180\/","title":{"rendered":"Hays County reports homelessness data showing increase in unsheltered citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEach year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires counties to collect data on citizens experiencing homelessness on a single day in January. The Point-in-Time count<\/a> is reported to HUD and helps direct the allocation of national funding to housing support programs.<\/p>\n

The Hays County Homeless Coalition presented the 2026 data to the Hays County Commissioners Court on April 14, showing an increase in unsheltered citizens and indicating a possible need for increased access to transitional housing.<\/p>\n

The overview<\/p>\n

The 2026 PIT count was conducted on Jan. 22 throughout Texas. The Hays County Homeless Coalition organized the county\u2019s 24-hour census, directing around 70 volunteers as they collected data on unhoused community members.<\/p>\n

The PIT count represents a snapshot of homelessness in Hays County and is not a definitive measure of the issue, said Nancy Heintz, Hays County Homeless Coalition board member. The census shows county homelessness trends and provides insight into what programs may be most needed.<\/p>\n

During the count day, volunteers collect data on citizens who are experiencing both unsheltered and sheltered homelessness. Data is collected on observed cases of homelessness when the individual could not be approached or did not wish to speak to the volunteers.<\/p>\n

Unsheltered individuals include those who are living in places not meant for human habitation.<\/p>\n

\"visualization\"\/<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re seeing more people sleeping in their car and still going to work,\u201d Heintz said. \u201cIt can be under a bridge, in the woods [or] wherever they can locate themselves and find a kind of safe place to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheltered individuals are reported by emergency, temporary and transitional shelters, and include citizens who stayed in a shelter the night of Jan. 22.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite a decline in total homelessness, the increase in unsheltered individuals suggests system strain and barriers to accessing shelters,\u201d Heintz said. \u201cIt indicates a shift toward more acute, invisible forms of homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diving deeper<\/p>\n

The Hays County Homeless Coalition presented the most recent McKinney-Vento report<\/a> April 14 as well. The report, collected at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year, shows data on children registered in public schools who are experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis does not include their parents,\u201d Hays County Homeless Coalition co-Chair Lisa Young. \u201cThis does not include any siblings that have aged out and are no longer in the public school, or that have dropped out of the public school, and it does not include infants.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"visualization\"\/<\/p>\n

Looking forward<\/p>\n

The Hays County Homeless Coalition hopes to continue to meet with the county and secure more consistent funding for programs and organizations offering homeless services in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the minority of our population, but absolutely the most vulnerable part of our population,\u201d Young said. \u201cPeople who, in a freeze, are more likely to die, people who cannot get what they need, and definitely people that we see at the food bank every single day.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Each year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires counties to collect data on citizens experiencing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,45416,356,2427,696,3222,56873,18345,79103],"class_list":{"0":"post-255180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news","11":"tag-census","12":"tag-data","13":"tag-hays-county","14":"tag-homelessness","15":"tag-housing","16":"tag-point-in-time","17":"tag-report","18":"tag-statistics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255180","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=255180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}