Each year, Allegheny County participates in a national census, required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), of the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night. The Point-in-Time count enumerates people experiencing homelessness in the County who are sheltered (residing in emergency shelters), unsheltered (residing in places not meant for human habitation) or participating in a short-term, supportive housing program (transitional and safe haven).
What happened in 2025?
Allegheny County’s 2025 count was conducted on January 28, 2025. The number of people counted as unsheltered increased by 66%, from 169 in 2024 to 281 in 2025. These increases did not align with DHS’s real-time data collection (from street outreach and weekly monitoring of tents), which indicated stable or even downward trends in unsheltered homelessness.
Unable to explain these contradictory results, we began a review of the methodology used for the Point-in-Time count. Our review found that the process for the January count did not have clear documentation and that some practices did not align with HUD recommendations, making interpretation of the results challenging. We decided to repeat the count, with a clearly documented methodology based more closely on HUD guidance, on March 18, 2025. The March 2025 count showed a 44% increase in unsheltered homelessness since January 2024 (from 169 to 244 people).
We consulted with representatives from street outreach teams and members of the Homeless Advisory Board (HAB) to discuss results and for assistance in interpreting patterns in the data. The 2025 Point-in-Time report describes the methodologies and results of both the January and March counts. Also included are preliminary interpretations of the results and next steps. Refer to the dashboard to explore Point-in-Time data trends over time.
Key Takeaways in 2025?
- We’ve seen increases in shelter usage among both adults and individuals in families with children. More adults and individuals in families with children were staying in shelter during both 2025 Point-in-Time counts than in the 2024 count. In January 2025, 570 adults and 354 individuals in families with children were in shelter. In March 2025, 550 adults and 336 individuals in families with children were in shelter. Compared to 2024, these counts represent relatively small increases, ranging from 3-7% for adults and 4-9% for individuals in adult-child households.
- We have greatly expanded outreach, which likely resulted in a more comprehensive count. The City of Pittsburgh and the County have invested in outreach workers in recent years to help deal with rising homelessness. These workers are the main enumerators in annual Point-in-Time counts. The increased capacity for and geographic scope of outreach workers has likely resulted in identifying more people experiencing homelessness over the years. For example, increases in people counted in the East End may be at least partially explained by increases in street outreach capacity.
- There are high rates of turnover in the unsheltered population. Only 19% of individuals counted were counted in both the January and March counts. For those counted in only one, almost two-thirds were not enrolled with street outreach programs using HMIS.
- Using “people working with street outreach” as a proxy for a count of unsheltered individuals results in an incomplete picture. The 2025 Point-in-Time counts illustrated that the proxy we used for estimating people experiencing unsheltered homelessness—working with street outreach—misses people experiencing short or intermittent episodes of unsheltered homelessness.
- The Point-in-Time count of unsheltered people has increased, but changes in approach make interpretation of the results challenging. Identifying increases or decreases in unsheltered homelessness year-over-year is problematic given changing methodologies over time. This means that we cannot confidently attribute these changes to real changes in the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness versus changes in how we are counting people.
How is the County moving forward?
DHS is partnering with Bloomberg Associates, experts in Point-in-Time count methodologies, to facilitate a diverse workgroup of stakeholders to evaluate the methodology we have employed, to compare that current methodology to best practices in other jurisdictions, to provide recommendations for improving our methods, and to create a refined methodology that they will help us implement in January 2026. Bloomberg Associates will also externally validate our fidelity to the new methodology.
We expect that the methodology employed in the January 2026 count will differ from what we have used in the past. It may include the use of a larger and more diverse set of volunteers, a more explicit way to choose the locations to canvass throughout the County and/or a more intentional plan to survey people on the night of the count. Because of anticipated improvements, the newly designed methodology will serve as our baseline going forward. We will make the new methodology available publicly.