Data collection was completed January 22 – February 2, 2024
The Unsheltered Point-in-Time (PIT) Count is required every other year by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in order to receive federal funding, however, it is widely understood to be an undercount.
KCRHA is conducted both an unsheltered and sheltered PIT Count in January 2024, along with the required Housing Inventory Count of emergency shelter beds and certain types of housing units.
Timeline
Data Collection: January 22 – February 2, 2024
Analysis of Data: Feb 2 – April 30, 2024
- Unsheltered data is verified and cleaned
- Shelter and transitional program providers clean, review, and submit data
- Unsheltered and sheltered data is combined into one data set to be prepared for submission to HUD
- Final data is reviewed and approved by KCRHA leadership
- Final data set is submitted to HUD
Report Development: February 2 – May 31, 2024
- Volunteer feedback is collected via surveys and focus groups and is analyzed
- Final data set is analyzed and written into a report for the community
- Documents are prepared and posted for KCRHA boards and the general public
- Community feedback sessions on the PIT report results are scheduled
More Information
Download a one-page explanation of the 2024 Unsheltered PIT Count
Download the 2024 Unsheltered PIT Count Methodology Info Sheet
Watch a video with details on the methodology
View a letter from University of Washington researchers about the methodology
The count will take place over two weeks, using a Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS) methodology approved by HUD and consistent with what was used in 2022. RDS has been shown to be effective in reaching people who are not already connected to services, providing a data point that supplements client data in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) and other systems.
KCRHA is working with researchers at the University of Washington and people with lived experience of homelessness to ensure validity in design, data collection, and analysis. We will work with these researchers to have the final methodology approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) and results will be peer reviewed for publication. Data will be collected using a digital survey and will not include qualitative interviews like the 2022 count.
The PIT Count is an important tool to help track demographics and illuminate year-over-year trends for the region. While the RDS methodology provides a more accurate snapshot than the traditional one-night street count, it is still likely an undercount.
For planning and accountability purposes, KCRHA will continue to work towards a system that is responsive to the 53,000 people who experience homelessness, both sheltered and unsheltered, over the course of a year in King County.
Housing Inventory Count
Previous PIT Count Reports
2022
2020
- 2018
- 2018 Count Us In Report
- Count Us In 2018 News Release
- 2018 Count Us In Infographic
- 2017
- 2017 Count Us In Report
- Count Us In 2017 News Release