2025 Point-in-Time Count Wrap Up
Mary Ann Priester
Senior Management Analyst
Mecklenburg County Community Support Services
Jessica Lefkowitz
Executive Director
Hearts for the Invisible Charlotte Coalition
Over the past three days, 20 CMPD officers and 40 teams of over 200 community volunteers came together to ensure #EverybodyCountsCLT by providing logistical support and conducting surveys with people experiencing unsheltered homelessness across Mecklenburg County. Point-in-Time Count co-leads, Mecklenburg County Community Support Services and Hearts for the Invisible Charlotte Coalition would like to sincerely thank each unhoused person who completed a survey, all who helped plan this year’s count, and those who selflessly volunteered their time, provided supplies and financial donations, or raised awareness about the 2025 Point-in-Time Count.
This blog provides an overview of this year’s Count, what’s next, and how you can stay involved year-round.
2025 CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG POINT-IN-TIME COUNT
The 2025 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Point-in-Time (PIT) Count was conducted today, Thursday, January 23rd. While the Point-in-Time Count is a mandated activity for all communities that receive Continuum of Care grant dollars from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), for Charlotte-Mecklenburg, it is so much more than that. The annual PIT count is when the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community comes together to not only enumerate and understand homelessness in Mecklenburg County but also to hear directly from our unsheltered and unhoused neighbors about their needs, challenges, and strengths. In addition to collecting HUD required information, the PIT survey includes locally generated questions. This year’s locally generated questions focused on resource access and eligibility, displacement, preferred shelter characteristics, and barriers to obtaining housing. The data that is collected will be used to help the local homeless services system better serve people experiencing homelessness and to inform local homelessness and housing solutions.
PARTNERSHIPS
The PIT Count could not happen without community collaboration and cross-sector partnership. Key partnerships for this year’s count include Hearts United for Good, Carolinas Care Partnership, Roof Above, Block Love Charlotte, Ice Age Management, The Park Church, Glory Group, and SHARE Charlotte. In addition, we are grateful to the numerous governmental and non-profit partners that supported the planning and implementation of this year’s Count and who engage in the work to end homelessness on a daily basis. Community collaboration is not only essential to ensure everybody counts but also to facilitate the local work to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring in Mecklenburg County.
Ada Jenkins
Alliance Health
Always Willing to Serve
Another Chance House of Refuge
Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministries
Atrium Health
Block Love Charlotte
CARES Team
Carolinas Care Partnership
City of Charlotte
Catholic Charities
CMPD
CMS
CoC Lived Experience Committee
Hearts for the Invisible Charlotte Coalition
Hearts United for Good
Homeless Services Network
Just Do It Movement
Mecklenburg County
Novant Health
Project Outpour
Roof Above
The Relatives
Time Out Youth
United Way of Greater Charlotte
Veterans Administration
Veterans Bridge Home
WHAT’S NEXT?
After Point-in-Time Count data collection is completed on February 1, staff will review and prepare the data for submission to HUD. You can expect to see an initial data release via this blog in late May or early June. A full analysis of all survey and PIT data will be released as part of the 2025 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing Instability & Homelessness Report.
The work to end homelessness requires community support and engagement throughout the year. Stay tuned to www.mecklenburghousingdata.org for the outcomes from the PIT and to learn about the One Number, which is how we track trends in homelessness each month.
Stay informed about the state of housing and homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg by Signing up to receive the Building Bridges Blog and the Continuum of Care Weekly Digest newsletter. Visit the CharMeck CoC webpage to learn about ongoing opportunities to serve on CoC Committees and Workgroups and actively engaged in the strategic work to end homelessness.
Finally, continue to raise awareness about the need for more permanent, affordable housing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. You can do this by learning about the issues, attending local board meetings, advocating at the local, state, and national level, and sharing your efforts on social media.
SO WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
The goal of the Point in Time Count is to ensure that all people experiencing homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg are counted, acknowledged, and heard because all individuals matter. Ending homelessness requires a coordinated community effort. The PIT count demonstrates our ability to come together as individuals and organizations, across sectors, to work toward the common goal of enumerating and better serving our unhoused neighbors. Homelessness is a complex problem but with sustained community commitment and collaboration, it is solvable.
