Understanding what regional data says about individuals and families experiencing homelessness is critical in building an effective community-wide response. For this reason, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires communities to conduct periodic counts of people experiencing homelessness. This data is compiled both locally and nationally to inform programs, planning, and funding. Homeward has coordinated Greater Richmond's Point-in-Time (PIT) count since 1999, and since 2007, has conducted both a summer and a winter count to better understand the changing nature of homelessness over time.
PIT data is published through snapshots, and is used to track trends across various subpopulations of homeless (veterans, families, chronic, etc)
2021 Winter PIT Count
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and consideration of safety and workload concerns, HUD has allowed communities to make changes in the execution of both the sheltered and unsheltered January 2021 Point-in-Time (PIT) count. The statewide date has been set for January 27, 2021 with a backup date of January 28.
Homeward began preliminary planning for PIT in late November. Proposed changes include shortening the number of questions on the survey and excluding the use of volunteers. Additionally, Homeward will not be partnering with indoor community meal providers to offer the survey to guests.
On December 14, the Greater Richmond Continuum of Care (GRCoC) board approved the updated PIT count methodology.
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