Analysis: Homelessness predicted to rise despite policy efforts

Homelessness is predicted to rise, while policies predicted to lower the homeless numbers only address part of the cause, according to analysts.

The annual Point-In-Time (PIT) count, conducted by the Continuums of Care for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is a once‑a‑year estimate nationwide of the number of people experiencing homelessness, both sheltered and unsheltered, and provides insight into whether homelessness is on the rise or decline.

“It’s an imperfect measure,” Ryan Orsinger, director of Data Science and Research at Haven for Hope, told The Center Square. “If you get 100 volunteers in San Antonio one year, and you get a count, and then the next year you get 200 volunteers and they’re just all geared up, you could actually have a change in the measurement not based on the number of human beings who are actually experiencing homelessness, just because of measurement variance.”

Weather, volunteer engagement, and other factors influence the PIT count, leading to fluctuations in data an...