HOW TO MAKE HOMELESS
POINT-IN-TIME (PIT) COUNT
MORE SUCCESSFUL
Counting Everyone - Making Everyone Count
The Second Annual Nebraska-Western Iowa Symposium on Homelessness
Homeless in the Heartland
Presentation Roadmap
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Homeless Point in Time
Count 101
2013 PIT Count Summary
Region V, 5 year PIT data
MACCH - Youth PIT Count
Rural PIT Challenges and
Best Practices
Regional Experiences
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Small group work –
Designing a Better PIT
Small group ideas
Product: Plan for 2014
BOS Point in Time Count
The Homeless Point in Time Count
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The Point-in-Time (PIT) count is a count of
sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons on a
single night in January. Each count is planned,
coordinated, and carried out locally.
PIT count provides the homeless assistance
community with data needed to understand the
number and characteristics of persons who are
homeless.
HUD requires all of Continuums of Care (CoCs) to
conduct a PIT count and report the data as part
of their annual competitive CoC application.
The Homeless Point in Time Count
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One ‘night’ in the last
10 days of January
Unduplicated count of
sheltered and
unsheltered homeless
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PIT and Housing
Inventory (HIC) are
integrally related
Only sheltered persons
counted at a provider
listed on the HIC maybe
included in PIT count
Who is included in PIT Count – 2013
Persons included in PIT Count
 Sheltered Persons “living in a
supervised publicly or privately
operated shelter designated to
provide temporary living
arrangement (including congregate
shelters, transitional housing, and
hotels and motels paid for by
charitable organizations or by
federal, state, or local government
programs for low-individual)
 Unsheltered Persons
Persons NOT included in PIT Count
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Persons residing in permanent supportive
housing programs, including persons housed
using Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing
(VASH) vouchers.
Persons in any location not listed on the HIC
(e.g., staying in programs with beds/units not
dedicated for persons who are homeless).
Persons temporarily staying with family or
friends (i.e., “doubled-up” or “couch surfing”).
Persons residing in their own unit (i.e.,
permanent housing) with assistance from a RRH
provider program
Persons in Rapid Re-housing
https://www.onecpd.info/resource/2076/2013-hic-and-pit-of-homeless-persons-data-collection-guidance/
PIT Count Methods Sheltered - 2013
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HMIS Providers
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Non-HMIS Providers
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Sheltered Population
Service Count Population
Paper PIT Count Form *
Domestic Violence Shelters
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Aggregate forms of
persons sheltered on night
of PIT count
Personal identifying information
(PII) for Non-HMIS providers
paper forms are critical for deduplication efforts.
Name, DOB, Gender, Race
PIT Count Methods Unsheltered
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Public Place Counts
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Contact counts
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Known Locations
Law Enforcement
Schools
Churches
Service based count
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Persons presenting
for services
Personal Identifying
information for
unsheltered count are
critical for deduplication efforts.
Name, DOB, Gender,
Race
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Use of
Unsheltered PIT
Count Form
BOS – 3 year PIT Sheltered Count
Trends
Emergency Shelter
Transitional Housing
2013 PIT
496
748 persons in 430
households
58 Chronic Ind. 20
Chronic Fam.
423
385
223
272
208
279 children/youth
21 unaccompanied
2011
2012
2013
Regional - January 2013 PIT Count
Emergency Shelter
The distribution of
homeless persons in
the BOS by housing
type across regions
was widely variable.
Identified
unsheltered persons
were nearly all in
Region 2.
Transitional Housing
Unsheltered
163
117
95
86
75
22
43
31
5
Region 1
Region 2
39
37
30
5
0
0
Region 3
Region 4
Region 5
Nebraska - January 2013 PIT Count
3,190 homeless persons
counted
Estimates are that
approximately 10% of
U.S. homeless population
live in rural areas of the
country (NAEH, 2009).
23% of Homeless
Persons counted on 2013
Point in Time Count were
in the Nebraska Balance
of State Continuum of
Care
Emergency Shelter
940
Transitional Housing
519
514
423
349
272
103
17
Omaha
Unsheltered
Lincoln
53
BOS
Northeast Nebraska
PIT Count 2009-2013
Emergency Shelter
98
93
Transitional Housing
Unsheltered
91
86
67
37
22
3
2009
20
18
7
2010
3
3
2011
0
2012
0
2013
Northeast Nebraska
Subpopulation data 2009 - 2013
D.V.
Chronic.
Sub. Abuse
34
Mental Illness
34 34
26
26
26
18
18
17
14
12 11
12
11 11
5
2
2009
Veteran
2010
21
20
10
8
4
3
2
2011
20
2012
2013
Youth and Young Adult PIT Count
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Omaha Metro Area Continuum conducts Youth
Specific PIT that counts unaccompanied youth (24
& <) who are homeless or unstably housed.
Not all of these youth counted are included in PIT
Count for HUD but maybe submitted as additional
information.
Youth and Young Adult PIT Count
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310 Youth counted in 2013
18% were 18 years of age or younger
17% of youth were parents and 83% of those
with children had custody
14% with severe mental illness
8% with chronic substance abuse
MACCH – Youth & Young Adult PIT Count
39%
27%
26%
Emergency Shelter
Transitional Housing
8%
Unsheltered
Couch Surfing
Rural CoC Point in Time Counts
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Rural CoCs are challenged in having to count
unsheltered individuals in extensive, sometimes
unknown or hard to reach locations with minimal
resources.
What are solutions in overcoming these
challenges?
Rural Point in Time Count
 Critical
to involve the wider community on broad level
early and often.
 Partner with Law Enforcement as critical to successful PIT
unsheltered count.
 Identify ‘known locations’ well prior and strategically
plan ‘street’ count efforts with specific providers /
agencies
Rural Point in Time Count
 Better
utilize local schools and coordinate with homeless
liaisons if present
 Improve coordination with NDE homeless liaison
 Consider regional Project Homeless Connect event during
PIT Count
 Consider expanding the unsheltered count time period over
a greater period of time to cover more areas
 Biennial PIT Count
BOS Point in Time - Regional Experience
Lessons
learned
from
experience
and
challenges
yet to
overcome!
Building a Better PIT Count
Unsheltered Focus
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In your small groups, create a list of strategies that
would help enhance the point in time count in your
region.
Focus on unsheltered count and non-HMIS provider methods
 Remember enough PII must be obtained to de-duplicate with other data
collection methods
 Address methods of outreach and greater community involvement
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How can the PIT Count information be used in your region?