2019 Point In Time (PIT) Count
HUD’s Point-in-Time (PIT) count provides a one-night estimate of both sheltered and unsheltered homelessness, including estimates of the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness, as well as homelessness among individuals, Veterans, families with children, and youth. PIT counts are a critical source of data on the number and characteristics of people who are homeless in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as well as the United States on a single night in January.
The data gathered from the PIT count is included in the Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) and is used by Congress, HUD, other federal departments, and the general public to understand the nature and extent of homelessness.
Data gathered and making progress on reducing homelessness are scoring factors in HUD’s CoC Program Competition and can influence funding awards.
Why We Count :
- To better understand homelessness in our community in order for individuals to receive the services they need to get help and into permanent housing.
- To determine the congressional homeless funding the County receives.
- To comply with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) requirements for Continuums of Care.
- The 2019 PIT count will occur throughout both balance of state continuums during the evening of January 23, 2019.
PA BoS PIT Count Webinar
The PA BoS 2019 PIT Count webinar was held on Wednesday, December 12, 2018 and can be found here.
Speakers included:
- Maria Williams with The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV): Maria has a strong background in working with persons experiencing domestic violence and presented on best practices for administering surveys in the event that the interviewee is experiencing a domestic violence situation.
- Leigh Howard with Diana T. Myers and Associates, Inc.: Leigh provided an update on the changes for the 2019 PIT count.
- Brendan Auman with The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED): Brendan has been working with software known as Survey123 developed by ESRI to implement an electronic version of the survey to pilot during this year’s PIT Count. Brendan gave a demonstration on how the electronic survey works.
The webinar is primarily directed to the county coordinators of the unsheltered count, but anyone is welcome to participate in the webinar.