08 Aug Montco’s 2023 Point-in-Time Count of Homelessness Released

The yearly Point-in-Time (PIT) count is a count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January. The count is used by the federal government and local communities to measure progress in decreasing homelessness and to identify strengths and gaps in homelessness assistance systems.

Last month, Montgomery County released the results of the 2023 count—and there’s a lot of information to dig into. The 2023 count identified more than 350 individuals sleeping in the County’s emergency shelters, transitional housing sites, or outdoors. That’s actually good news: it’s a 37% decrease from the 2022 PIT count, which was especially large because of individuals displaced from their homes by Hurricane Ida.

– 217 people were sleeping in an emergency shelter on the night of the count, including Code Blue shelters.
– 30 people were staying in transitional housing facilities.
– 110 people were unsheltered on the night of the count, an increase from the 36 people found in 2022.

The County revised its PIT methodology this year to include community leaders with local knowledge of those experiencing homelessness to participate in the count. That made this year’s count the most accurate and comprehensive one in years.

It’s important to understand the limitations of the PIT count, however. Of the nearly 1.1 million children and youth experiencing homelessness identified by public schools in the 2020-21 school year (the most recent year for which national data is available), only 4% were unsheltered, and 11% were staying in shelters. The rest were staying in motels, or staying temporarily with other people. This invisible homelessness is not included in the PIT count.

Visit montcopa.org to read more about the count and the county’s ongoing efforts to address homelessness