Santa Cruz County 2024 Homelessness Point-in-Time Count & Report

At least every two years, typically during the last 10 days of January, communities across the country conduct comprehensive Point-in-Time (PIT) Counts of the local population experiencing homelessness. PIT Counts approximate the number of persons experiencing homelessness in each community and collect information on persons and families residing in emergency shelters and transitional housing and unsheltered situations including on the streets, in cars, abandoned properties, or other places not meant for human habitation (the unsheltered).

The PIT Count is the only nationwide data on both sheltered and unsheltered homelessness. The U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires all jurisdictions receiving federal funding to provide housing and services for persons and families experiencing homelessness to conduct a PIT Count. The H4HP receives approximately $6 million dollars annually in HUD CoC funding, a key source of funding for the county’s housing and services programs for persons experiencing homelessness. The CoC reports the findings of its local PIT Count annually to HUD, though the unsheltered count component is required every other year. However, the County of Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz County Continuum of Care (CoC), known locally as the Housing for Health Partnership (H4HP), intend to continue conducting the full count and survey on an annual basis. The reported findings help the federal government better understand the nature and extent of homelessness nationwide. PIT Count and Survey data also help inform local strategic planning, capacity building, and advocacy campaigns to prevent and end homelessness. The County of Santa Cruz worked in conjunction with Applied Survey Research (ASR) to conduct the 2024 Santa Cruz County Homeless PIT Count and Survey. ASR is a social research firm based in Santa Cruz County with extensive experience in homeless enumeration and needs assessment and has been the principal researcher for Santa Cruz County PIT counts and surveys since 2000.