Coalition for the Homeless and 500 volunteers to conduct Houston Homeless Count
Communications Admin • January 23, 2012
Coalition for the Homeless and 500 volunteers Conduct Houston Homeless Count HOUSTON, TX — January 24, 2011 5:30 p.m. — the key to solving homelessness is understanding who is homeless. The Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County (CFTH) will conduct the ninth annual Houston Homeless Count of unsheltered homeless men women and families on Tuesdays: January 24th and January 31st, 2012. The homeless count is part of a nationwide initiative/mandate of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to assess the extent and characteristics of homelessness across the country. The results are reported to Congress annually.
The Count, managed by CFTH through nine staging areas throughout Houston, Harris and Fort Bend Counties, serves as the primary source of data locally and nationally to verify homelessness trends and to track progress on community efforts to prevent and end homelessness. Last year’s Count (January 2011), revealed a 25% increase over 2010 in homelessness (8,538 homeless were counted) which ranked Houston as having the largest homeless population in Texas and the 8th largest in the US.
During the course of the count, efforts are taken by the outreach teams to connect homeless men, women, youth and families with immediate referrals to shelter and services. In addition to the unsheltered homeless count, the Coalition will conduct a count of those who are homeless but sheltered on the same day. Conducting both an unsheltered count and sheltered count provides a more in depth picture of homelessness in Harris and Fort Bend Counties. Count information is not only reported to HUD and Congress, but is used locally to help CFTH and providers design housing and service programs that will achieve the community’s ultimate goal: a homeless system that achieves decreases in new homelessness, length of homelessness and returns to homelessness.
The importance of the 2012 Homeless Count was noticed by over 400 concerned citizens who have volunteered to canvass neighborhoods throughout Harris and Fort Bend Counties. Volunteers are assigned to staging areas that mobilize them into teams of four, one of whom is an experienced count volunteer, to document individuals, families with children and youth who are homeless by driving through researched areas where homelessness persists. Special populations such as homeless veterans, youth, mentally ill, and persons fleeing domestic violence are engaged by specialized outreach teams. Houston Police Department’s Homeless Outreach Team provides guidance and safety information for all teams.
CFTH would like to thank our donors/sponsors for the 2012 Homeless Count. Sponsors include: Insperity, Gensler and Reliant and funding for the Stand Up and Be Counted Corps pilot project, an activity of the
Count, has also been generously provided by a United Way of Greater Houston Community Building Grant. Mayor Annise Parker recently urged Houstonians to volunteer for the Count and donated 21,000 tshirts to the cause through the Mayor’s Citizen’s Assistance Office. Volunteers can still join in the efforts online at www.houstonhomelesscount.org.
Houston, Texas (February 24, 2026) – This week, the nonprofit Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County (CFTH) is leading the annual Point-in-Time Homeless Count & Survey (“PIT Count”) to determine the number of people experiencing homelessness across Houston and throughout Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery counties. “We may see a slight uptick in the number this year, but we have a plan,” said Kelly Young, President & CEO of CFTH. “With the support of the City of Houston, Harris County, and private funders, we have been piloting new interventions to shorten the length of time people in our region experience homelessness. With adequate funding, we look forward to expanding those interventions to help people regain lives of self-determination.” CFTH coordinates the Houston region’s public-private homeless response system, The Way Home . Through this collaboration, The Way Home partners have successfully housed over 36,000 people since 2012. CFTH will release the results of Houston’s 2026 PIT Count in the summer, following independent verification by an epidemiologist. These findings will provide insight into how factors such as increases in the cost of living and the end of federal pandemic relief funding have impacted homelessness in our region. More information about the 2026 Point-in-Time Homeless Count & Survey The PIT Count offers a snapshot of how many people are experiencing homelessness in our region on a single night. This year, the “night of record” is Monday, Feb. 23. CFTH determines the number of people staying in shelters on that night by pulling records electronically from the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) . The unsheltered count will be conducted on the following days, from Tuesday, Feb. 24 to Thursday, Feb. 26. More than 400 volunteers and staff of local nonprofit service provider partners will canvass the three-county region to survey people living unsheltered, using an app on their mobile devices. Results from the 2026 PIT Count will help gauge the progress of The Way Home’s ongoing collaborative efforts. It will also help CFTH and partner homeless outreach teams understand geographic shifts and target their outreach throughout the year. The PIT Count illuminates specific programmatic gaps and provides additional information needed to allocate resources most efficiently. The PIT Count is a requirement of the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) for the annual Continuum of Care (CoC) funding process. HUD furnishes the majority of funding for programs that provide housing and supportive services to people experiencing homelessness in the region. In 2024, HUD granted more than $71 million to the Houston area.
As lead agency to The Way Home Continuum of Care (CoC), CFTH is working with local governmental entities to advocate on behalf of people experiencing homelessness to ensure their needs are being considered as winter weather affects our region. We will make frequent updates as we receive information. Please check back often for the latest information. Last updated 02/01/2026 at 12:00 p.m.
While our system has helped thousands of people move from homelessness to housing, this year’s results highlight the need to broaden our approach.
