2024 Point-In-Time Count: Volunteers Needed To Help Ensure #Everybodycountsclt

Mary Ann Priester

Senior Management Analyst
Mecklenburg County Community Support Services

Jessica Lefkowitz

Executive Director
Hearts for the Invisible Charlotte Coalition

The 2024 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Point-in-Time (PIT) Count will take place on Thursday, January 25, 2024. This annual event is when the community comes together to survey and count each person experiencing sheltered or unsheltered homelessness on one night in January. On January 25th, volunteers and outreach teams will canvass the community to locate and engage individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness. Last year, in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, 1,916 people were counted, including 171 families, 106 unaccompanied youth (18-24), and 288 people sleeping outside. Preparations and planning are underway for the 2024 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count and we need your help. Full community support and engagement is needed to not only make this year’s PIT a success but to also move forward the work to prevent and end homelessness in Mecklenburg County.

This blog post provides information on how individuals and agencies can get involved and support this year’s PIT Count.

POINT-IN-TIME COUNT

The annual Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Point-in-Time (PIT) count is a comprehensive effort conducted across the United States to gather data on homelessness. The PIT Count takes place on a single night in January each year and provides a snapshot of homelessness at that moment. The key objectives of the PIT count are to estimate the number of people experiencing homelessness and to understand their demographic characteristics and living situations. It provides valuable data that informs local policy decisions, resource allocation, and the development of effective interventions. In addition, these data are reported to HUD and included in the Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress to inform national policy and funding decisions related to housing and homelessness.

HOUSING COUNTS

The Housing Inventory Count (HIC) is conducted on the same night as the PIT Count. It measures the capacity of the Continuum of Care (CoC) to house people experiencing homelessness and includes both temporary (emergency shelter, transitional housing) and permanent housing (rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, other permanent housing) solutions. The HIC is a critical to component to understand trends in homelessness and the system’s overall capacity to meet the temporary and permanent housing needs of people experiencing homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

WHY WE COUNT

HUD requires that all Continuums of Care (CoCs) conduct an annual count of all persons experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness to receive federal housing assistance, but the annual PIT Count in Charlotte-Mecklenburg is so much more than that. Everybody Counts Charlotte seeks to ensure that all people experiencing homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg are counted because each individual matters. The lives of people experiencing homelessness matter. We count as advocates, service providers, family, and friends. We count as a call to action.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

Mecklenburg County Community Support Services and Hearts for the Invisible Charlotte Coalition have partnered to lead the 2024 Point-in-Time Count. You can be a part of ensuring everybody counts by raising awareness, donating items, and giving your time.

  • Give Time: Volunteers are needed on Jan. 25 to help complete surveys with people experiencing homelessness. If you have never volunteered before and would like to learn more, we will be hosting 2 info sessions for prospective volunteers. You can learn more about the information sessions and register to volunteer here.
  • Donate: Anyone can donate Items to help people sleeping outside in our community. Access the Wishlist here. You can also make a financial contribution for the purchase of these supplies and for items such as a warm breakfast for our neighbors the morning of the PIT. To make a financial contribution to Hearts for Invisible Coalition, the lead outreach organization in our community, click here.
  • Raise Awareness: Share this information with friends, family, and networks via social media using the #EverybodyCountsCLT hashtag. Participate in the PIT Activities calendar, which provides data and links to events throughout January. It will be available mid-December at the Point-in-Time Count page on the Housing and Homelessness Dashboard.

In addition, if you see a person or group who you believe to be unsheltered, please complete the Mecklenburg County Street Outreach Referral form. Someone will go out and work to engage them and it will help us identify locations that may need to be included in the unsheltered PIT.

SO WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

Counting is critical to understand the scope of the problem. The PIT Count is the primary way we collect information about unsheltered homelessness in the community, which has risen 35% since 2020. When combined with the One Number and community data on system performance, the PIT Count provides Charlotte-Mecklenburg a way to look at progress in the work to end and prevent homelessness.

If you have questions or need more information, Please reach out to PIT@MeckNC.gov