More than 400 volunteers fanned out over San Antonio Tuesday night to conduct the Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, the city’s annual census of its homeless population.
Tuesday’s count represented the largest volunteer turnout to date for the Alamo City, according to organizers.
Volunteers split into 75 teams — each assigned a geographical area — which combed the city to provide a snapshot of its unsheltered population. The totals are later added to a count of the sheltered population to further understand the scope of homelessness in the city.
The figures from Tuesday’s count won’t be available until sometime later this spring, according to organizers. The 2024 PIT count recorded a total of 3,372 homeless individuals, including 888 living unsheltered. This represented a 6.8% spike in San Antonio’s homeless population over the prior year and a 17.4% increase since 2019’s pre-pandemic levels.
San Antonio is one of hundreds of U.S. cities that participate in the annual PIT Count to quality for federal funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Participating cities must hold their counts in the last 10 days of January to qualify for the funding.
This timing helps volunteers in cities with colder winters find shelter in real time for the people they encounter living on the street. However, that’s not always easy in San Antonio, where city shelters are overflowing.
The San Antonio PIT Count is led by Close to Home, the city’s lead continuum-of-care organization.
Volunteers who take part in the count ask unhoused people survey questions and collect data as they cover their territories. HUD uses the gathered information to identify trends and report on them in its Annual Homelessness Assessment Report.
“The Point-in-Time Count isn’t just about collecting data; it’s about shining a light on the lives of those who too often go unseen and unheard. There’s perhaps no better example of the level of collaboration in our work than our annual PIT Count,” Close to Home Communications Director Katie Hubble said in an emailed statement.
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This article appears in Jan 22 – Feb 4, 2025.
