Point-in-Time Count
Conducted on the same night as the Housing Inventory Count (HIC) during the last ten days in January, the Housing Inventory Count (HIC) measures the number of people experiencing the federal definition of “literal homelessness” on a single night and document some of their characteristics. This includes people residing in the following locations:
- Sheltered Homeless Situations
- Emergency Shelter
- Transitional Housing
- Unsheltered Homeless Situations
- Streets
- Parks
- Camping
- Vehicles (including RVs without utility hook-ups)
While many factors, such as weather, bed availability, and the organization and participation of volunteers, may influence how many people are counted in each of these situations on a specific night, the PIT serves as a powerful tool to understand the demand for various types of homeless services because of its inclusion of projects and people who may not be included in the Utah Homeless Management Information System (UHMIS). In particular, the efforts of hundreds of volunteers to locate Utahns experiencing unsheltered homelessness enable the PIT to provide a more complete picture of unsheltered homelessness than is available at other times of the year when outreach capacity is more limited.
The PIT, along with the accompanying HIC report, is also able to provide more complete reporting on sheltered homelessness by incorporating data from domestic violence services providers and non-HMIS participating emergency shelter projects. By measuring the need for homeless services at the same time the HIC measures the supply of those resources, the PIT allows Utah and its communities to appropriately distribute and tailor its homeless response system to meet the needs of Utahns experiencing homelessness and accomplish the goals defined in their strategic plans.