The 2022 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count will take place on the night of Wednesday, January 26, 2022. The PIT Count is when our community comes together to survey each person experiencing sheltered or unsheltered homelessness on one night. It is also when we capture temporary and permanent housing capacity and inventory across the housing continuum. The Point-in-Time Count and Housing Inventory Count are required activities for the Continuum of Care (CoC) to receive federal homelessness funding assistance from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD).

The 2022 data will include anyone experiencing homelessness, and the capacity to temporarily and permanently house this population, as HUD defines it on the night of January 26, 2022. In response to safety concerns in 2021, HUD allowed communities to conduct modified unsheltered counts and, in some cases, forego the unsheltered count altogether. The unsheltered homelessness census involves engagement with individuals who are not already receiving services, and therefore, typically requires significant in-person contact.

For the 2022 PIT Count, Charlotte-Mecklenburg will complete the unsheltered count, as required by HUD, by relying primarily on Street Outreach and PATH staff already engaged with the individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness. In alignment with HUD recommendations, Charlotte-Mecklenburg will complete the unsheltered count over multiple days, leveraging the work that Street Outreach and PATH staff are already doing to understand where people are sleeping on the night of the count. Additionally, and also per HUD recommendations, Charlotte-Mecklenburg will maximize remote trainings, including for the Outreach Grid App, which is used to complete some of the Point-in-Time Count surveys.

Like last year, HUD is requiring that CoCs conduct the other two components (sheltered homelessness census and HIC) as per usual, with no modifications. This is because the relevant data for these activities should already be in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) as a part of regular data workflows completed by staff when an individual enters an emergency shelter or transitional housing facility. For the purposes of the HIC, providing and updating organizational capacity in HMIS involves communication and coordination among providers and HMIS staff; there is no in-person client contact required separate and apart from what already takes place as part of intake and case management activities.

Data from the 2022 Point-in-Time Count will be released with the 2022 State of Housing Instability & Homelessness Report in Fall 2022. To access the results from the 2021 Point-in-Time Count, click here.