What is a Street count?
A Street count is an estimate of the number of people experiencing homelessness in a specific area on a single night. On a selected night, multiple teams (composed of workers and/or volunteers) visit previously identified locations or “hot spots” where homeless people usually congregate to identify and count individuals who lack shelter. A parallel group or the administrators of shelters enumerate people in temporary accommodation. The total number later informed combines both sheltered and unsheltered populations.
The Street count offers a snapshot of homelessness at a particular moment and, when done regularly, can help track trends and assess the effectiveness of a community’s response. According to the OECD Framework (2025), Street counts are widely used but present challenges to reflect the reality of people “who are not experiencing homelessness at the specific time of the count.” Additionally, a Street count can be part of a broader enumeration process, such as a national census, or be used to trace patterns of homelessness over time if repeated in the Capture-Recapture approach.
This method is also known as Point-in-Time (PIT) counts in North America or Rough Sleeping Snapshots in the United Kingdom.
The method focuses on the most visible forms of homelessness: people living outdoors or in shelters and other temporary accommodations.
Data Collection and Analysis
Street Counts record where individuals experiencing homelessness stayed on a given night, such as in shelters, transitional housing, or unsheltered locations like streets or parks. Depending on national or local guidelines, it may also include other settings like hospitals, correctional facilities, or treatment centers. The selected night should reflect a “typical” night, avoiding dates when events or activities might alter the usual living conditions of the people. The process typically includes the following elements:
- Surveys or Tally System: Street counts can employ different methods to collect data, such as surveys or a tally system. Surveys can gather more detailed demographic and needs-based information, while tally systems are faster and used for basic headcounts. The chosen method should align with the objectives of the count and available resources.
- Geographic Division: The city is divided into smaller, manageable geographic zones to ensure full coverage and avoid duplication. These divisions are often based on administrative boundaries, neighborhoods, or areas with known concentrations of people experiencing homelessness.
- Map “Hot Spots”: Planners work with local service providers, outreach teams, and people with lived experience to identify places where people experiencing homelessness are likely to be found, such as encampments, train stations, or areas with high visibility. The presence of staff who are familiar with these spaces can enhance effective engagement with individuals.
- Recruitment and Staffing: Street Count organizers must recruit staff to carry out the count, including coordinators, team leads, and enumerators. Volunteers may be engaged to support the effort, but the count should prioritize the involvement of trained frontline workers, outreach teams, and local experts.
A Street count usually occurs within a short time frame of a few hours, but successful execution depends on careful planning and preparation beforehand. This includes identifying and mapping the areas to be covered, as well as preparing systems for data collection, storage, and analysis. After the enumeration is complete, the focus shifts to analyzing the results and sharing the findings.
The method follows a standardized approach, using consistent timing, question-wording, and survey procedures to ensure comparability across regions and over time. When collecting demographic data, Street counts use standardized categories, typically based on existing administrative information, to record individuals’ race, ethnicity, gender, and other key characteristics.
The data collected can offer insights into the total number of people experiencing homelessness in a year and “hot spots” or locations where these populations usually reunite or prepare to sleep overnight.
When conducted regularly, PIT helps communities monitor trends and assess progress in addressing homelessness. The results can be used to design targeted services and programs, monitor reductions in homelessness, and identify gaps within their homelessness response systems.
It is crucial to implement strict data management protocols to ensure the results shared with the public accurately represent the count’s findings. Questionnaire responses should be entered into a data software program as soon as possible after the enumeration is completed. Individuals responsible for data entry must be properly trained in entry procedures and equipped to address potential issues, such as incomplete or unclear responses. After the data has been entered and cleaned, it can then be analyzed.
Governments and other key stakeholders should utilize published findings to inform decisions around funding, housing, and service provision. For example, in the United States, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) submits reports of the PIT counts to Congress through the Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (AHAR), which is intended to guide program design and policy-making on homelessness.
A PIT does not capture everyone who experiences homelessness throughout the year, as it reflects a single night’s snapshot. As a result, the actual extent of homelessness, particularly unsheltered homelessness, is likely underreported.
Because the engagement with the individuals occurs at a unique moment in time, it does not track how long individuals experience homelessness or how they eventually exit homelessness. Additionally, this method does not provide information about other forms of homelessness, like people living in insecure or adequate housing, or individuals staying temporarily with friends or family (often referred to as “couch surfing”). Available evidence indicates that women, young people, and ethnic minority populations are more likely to experience “hidden homelessness,” making them harder to capture in official statistics due to the less visible and often informal ways they experience homelessness (UK Office for National Statistics, 2023). These groups are also typically underrepresented in street counts.
The counts may underestimate the number of families and unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness, as they are less likely to use shelters or be visibly on the streets (SchoolHouse Connection and the National Alliance to End Homelessness). Furthermore, since counts are more often conducted in urban areas, they offer limited insight into the scale and nature of homelessness in rural and suburban areas, where it may be more dispersed or hidden.
Gender disparities are also a limiting factor in Street counts since women are less likely to be enumerated. According to Lloyd and Plouin (2024), women avoid visible locations for safety reasons and, instead, may stay in less visible places like shelters for victims of domestic violence, 24-hour services, or hospital emergency rooms, which are not always included in official counts. Recent research has attempted to address this gap by providing information on how to count homelessness among women better.
- A first step should be to evaluate whether existing definitions of homelessness and data collection practices effectively capture the full range of women’s experiences of homelessness (Lloyd and Plouin, 2024).
- Combining street counts with other methods, such as time-location sampling used in Germany, can improve data collection on hidden homelessness, particularly among women (Gatta, 2024).
- An effective data collection strategy on women’s homelessness requires a thoughtful, trust-based approach. Surveys should be delivered by outreach workers, in collaboration with homelessness and specialized services, and also be accessible digitally across multiple locations to expand reach (UK Office for National Statistics).
Areas include in the PIT or Street Counts
- Public spaces (streets, alleys, parks, etc.), encampments, transit stations, airports, abandoned buildings, and vehicles.
- Emergency shelters, domestic violence accommodation, hotel or hotel rooms if supplied by services. Counts can also consider other types of transitional and temporary accommodations administered by local or national governments or charitable organizations.
Educate Field Teams on Enumeration Protocols
- Many cities and countries rely on volunteers to conduct the enumeration process.
- All people involved should undergo appropriate training to learn how to engage with individuals respectfully, ask survey questions accurately, and know how to provide help when needed.
- Before starting the survey, it is essential to explain its purpose to each individual and obtain their informed consent, ensuring voluntary participation.
Stakeholders and People with Lived Experience
- In the preparation process, it is essential to map areas through conversation with local service providers, outreach teams, and community members.
- People with lived experience of homelessness should be involved throughout the entire process to inform data collection methods and best practices.
The Method in Practice
Point-in-Time Counts of Homelessness
Canada carries out an enumeration of sheltered and unsheltered individuals experiencing homelessness at the national level. The PIT counts include an estimate within the geographical area and the application of a survey to collect demographic information. The Homelessness Learning Hub publishes information about the planning, preparation, and implementation processes.
For a closer look at Edmonton, one of IGH Vanguard Cities, access its more recent data here.
Rough Sleeping Snapshot
All local authorities in England must conduct an annual Rough Sleeping Snapshot in autumn. The process uses a standardized definition of rough sleeping to count the number of “people sleeping in the open air or in buildings or other places not designed for habitation.” Homeless Link supports the Street Counts and publishes a statistical report analyzing the data.
The UK Government published a technical report in 2021 about this method’s limitations, improvements, and quality.
Rough Sleeping Count
A Point-in-Time (PIT) Count is conducted annually, typically on a single night in January, to measure the number of people experiencing homelessness, both in emergency accommodations and in unsheltered locations. Field officers identify and survey individuals experiencing homelessness in pre-selected areas. Access the Guide to Undertaking a Rough Sleeping Count for more details about the planning, implementation, and post-count data process.
The country’s data is complemented by the Pathway Accommodation and Support System (PASS), an online case-management system used nationwide by local authorities and service providers to track individuals accessing homelessness services.
Point-in-Time and Housing Inventory Count
In the United States, the Point-in-Time Count is conducted each January to estimate the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night. It includes both sheltered individuals (in emergency shelters, transitional housing, and Safe Havens) and unsheltered individuals.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires that Continuums of Care (CoCs) conduct an annual count of sheltered individuals, while the unsheltered count is required every odd-numbered year, although many communities choose to conduct it annually.
Conducted alongside the PIT Count, the Housing Inventory Count (HIC) is a point-in-time inventory of programs within a CoC that provide dedicated beds and units for people experiencing homelessness. Both PIT and HIC data are submitted to HUD through the Homelessness Data Exchange (HDX).
Metodología Punto en el Tiempo: Cantidad de Personas en Situación de Calle
The Ministry of Social Development (MIDES), with support from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), uses the Point-in-Time methodology to estimate the number of people experiencing homelessness in Uruguay. This approach involves counting, on a single night, all individuals in “street situations,” either sleeping outdoors or in shelters, while disaggregating the data by geographic region (Montevideo and other zones of the country) and by the type of situation in which each person is found.
As part of the process, teams cover areas previously identified as having a high likelihood of homelessness, based on information collected by public agencies, social organizations, and other sources.
Related Materials
Access the links below for tools and guidance specific to Point-in-Time counts:
Everyone Counts: A Guide to Point-in-Time Counts in Canada (Homelessness Learning Hub)
What is the Point-in-Time Count? (Community Solutions)
What is a Point-in-Time Count? (National Alliance to End Homelessness)
2022 Survey Questionnaire (New York City Hope)
2024 AHAR: PIT Estimates of Homelessness in the U.S. (Office of Policy Development and Research)