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Learn More About the Point In Time Count 2023

BY JUDITH TACKETT

Homelessness in Nashville seems to be on the rise, and the latest Point In Time (PIT) numbers reflect that homelessness has increased by 11 percent since 2022.

What is the PIT count, and why does this year’s press release from Metro start with a long explanation about increase before it states all the facts?

To answer the first question, the PIT count is mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In layman’s terms, once every year, each community that receives certain federal funding to address homelessness is required to count people sleeping in shelters and on the streets during one night within the last 10 days of January. At the same time, a bed count is conducted to review how many transitional and permanent beds each community has. The count of people is called the Point In Time (PIT) count and the bed count is referred to as the Housing Inventory Count (HIC).

In my last column, I focused on the HIC, which is usually neglected in our local discussion on homelessness and not mentioned in press releases. In this column, I will focus on the results of the local PIT count, which were released by Metro earlier this month.

The total number of people experiencing homelessness who counted on the night starting on Jan. 26 was 2,129, which is 213 people more than in 2022.

Of those:

• 1,539 stayed in shelters (257 more than in 2022), and

• 590 were unsheltered (44 fewer than in 2022).

Other overall data collected show:

• 95 percent of the households counted identified as single individuals or adult-only (1,765 households/1,841 people) — this compares to 96 percent of adult-only households in 2022;

• 5 percent of households consisted of at least one adult and one child (95 households/287 people) — 4 percent in 2022;

• 67 percent were men — 71 percent in 2022;

• 45 percent were Black or African American (compared to 27 percent of the general Nashville population) — 42 percent in 2022;

• 5 percent were Hispanic — 5 percent in 2022.

Taking a closer look at the unsheltered population who participated in a survey on the night of the PIT count, the Nashville data shows:

• 79 percent individuals reported having a disability;

• 62 percent individuals were experiencing chronic homelessness (52 percent reported chronic homelessness in 2022);

• 50 percent reported a history of substance use (39 percent in 2022);

• 48 percent said they had mental health needs (48 percent in 2022);

• 20 percent reported having a pet (16 percent in 2022); and

• 17 percent reported fleeing domestic violence (12 percent in 2022).

Finally, the data released stated, “Most unsheltered people (42%) were staying in encampments, followed by people staying on streets or sidewalks (21%).” The release, however, does not mention where the remaining 37 percent of unsheltered people were staying.

Once HUD releases its data set or all PIT counts in the nation, we will be able to access the complete data online. Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA) serves as the main agency responsible for the Point In Time Count, but in reality, the release is heavily monitored and influenced by the Mayor’s Office. Therefore, I use the all-encompassing term Metro when referring to the source of the press release.

Now to the second question I posed earlier about how Metro provided a detailed explanation at the beginning of the release as to why there was an increase before even giving facts about the findings. I find this worthy of mentioning. Metro’s second paragraph focused heavily on the explanation that due to low temperatures, Metro opened its cold weather shelter that night, which they explain “helps to account for the 11% increase from 2022, as more people experiencing homelessness seek out shelter and do not need to be located outdoors by partners and volunteers.”

I do not dispute that this is a good assumption, even though (and very likely) it may not be the only one. What has me stumped is that it was provided so early in the press release and felt like an excuse. This is coupled with the fact that typically this information is sent in an emailed press release, but was only found this year by searching for it online. Hardly anyone knew (including this publication and others) that this information had been released at all. It feels like a buried release of necessary information. For political reasons, I can definitely see why. The Mayor’s Office spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a consultant contract (which started in February 2022) to reduce the numbers of homelessness, and a year later, the PIT count increased. In years prior there had been an albeit slow (far too slow) decline of 19 percent between 2016 and 2022.

No matter what explanations are delivered, the PIT count remains controversial among advocates, and even the federal government agrees that it does not show a full picture of homelessness in a community. Furthermore, in a 2021 release, the U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO) recommended that HUD provide communities with additional information on how to use local administrative data to improve the accuracy of their counts.

The PIT count is important, though, because HUD uses its data as a main source to report the state of homelessness to the U.S. Congress, but it should not be the main source to paint a picture of homelessness in a community.

Among other data sources that communities should use to evaluate homelessness are the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) on households experiencing literal homelessness (meaning they sleep in shelters, outdoors, in cars, and in other locations not meant for human habitation), and the Local Education Agency on school children (who in addition to living in literal homelessness situations also stay in doubled-up housing with family or friends, in motels, or couch surf). Metro has invested heavily into the community’s HMIS and continues to improve its data collection efforts and data quality through HMIS.

Overall, no matter what the 2023 PIT count number says, as long as our community refrains from trying to implement quick fixes and truly focuses on an approach that implement permanent housing with wrap around support services to meet people’s needs (not just as a political rhetoric but by actually doing it), then the future PIT count trends will again decrease.