(The Center Square) – Nevada will conduct its unsheltered Point-In-Time count of the state’s homeless residents Thursday.
Limitations in the national Housing and Urban Development’s count means the number is likely to be an undercount, according to a Nevada official.
“The criticisms of the Point-In-Time Count are that it doesn’t count people who are living in a motel they’re paying for themselves, or are doubled up with family and living in some of those, kind of more marginal living situations,” said Catrina Peters, human services coordinator for the Washoe County Human Services Agency,
“We’re here to be absolutely transparent, to follow the HUD methodology, but I would say broadly across the country, that’s a consistent concern,” Peters told The Center Square.
The HUD methodology counts unsheltered people on a single night within the last 10 days of January, but does not include people staying over at somebody else’s home, in a motel, hospital or jail for a short period, even if some people in those positions are likely to return to homelessness.
Nevada’s PIT count will begin at 3 a.m. Thursday in the Las Vegas area, which is in Clark County in southern Nevada.
Washoe County, which is in northwest Nevada, will begin counting at 4 a.m., with 60 people who have experience working with the county’s homeless population set to conduct the count, who they call enumerators.
“We’re very lucky in that we have an amazing community of folks doing that work who rise to the challenge of getting together at 4 a.m. to start this work,” said Peters. “Folks who are already working as a street outreach worker – one, know where encampments are, and two, oftentimes already have relationships established with folks who are unsheltered.”
But the winter can present an additional risk of undercount, as it can be an especially dangerous time of year to be homeless. The National Coalition for the Homeless estimated that 700 homeless people die annually across the U.S. from hyperthermia.
“Occasionally we have some winter weather to navigate but [we] are looking pretty good for this year,” Peters told The Center Square.
Across the country, annual Point-In-Time Counts are required by HUD, but only have to account for people who are sheltered. This includes areas such as emergency shelters and transitional houses.
But the annual PIT counts do not include unsheltered homeless people, who are required to be counted at least every other year. The last unsheltered count took place January 2024 and listed 7,906 homeless people in Nevada, a 20% increase from the previous year.
Peters did not say exactly whether this year’s PIT count was likely to show an increase in the homeless population.
“It’s just so hard to say,” she said, later adding, “There have been quite a few changes in the community over the last two years.”
