Each year, Allegheny County participates in a national effort to count the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January. The Point-in-Time (PIT) homeless count enumerates the sheltered (residing in emergency homeless shelters or transitional housing programs) and unsheltered (residing in places not meant for human habitation) homeless population within the County.
Key findings in 2020 included:
- During the 2020 PIT count, 887 people were found to be experiencing homelessness, which is 113 more people than in 2019.
- More people were found to be residing in locations not meant for habitation (also known as street homeless) when compared to previous PIT counts. The increase in people in unsheltered locations was likely a result of winter weather being mild and a concerted effort to canvass more areas of the county than in previous years.
- There were more families with children served in 2020 than in 2019, and the size of these families was also slightly larger (an average of 3.5 people per family in 2020 compared to 3.3 in 2019).
- There was an increase in the number of households without children (i.e., those not in a family unit), from 535 in 2019 to 617 in 2020.