Asheville-Buncombe Continum of Care has released their 2026 Point-In-Time Count Results. View Full Report Here
What is it?
The PIT Count is a Federal requirement for all CoCs and is conducted during the last 10 days of January. Results are aggregated and reported to Congress and the nation via the Annual Homelessness
Assessment Report. The Count specifically includes people who are unsheltered (living on the street, camping, living in a car, or building without utilities - places not meant for habitation) and people who are sheltered in Emergency Shelters or Transitional Housing programs. It does not include people in institutions (e.g. jail) or people who are doubled up. It is most useful as a partial snapshot of the homeless population to identify basic trends and changes over time.
There is no one comprehensive dataset on homelessness; each one offers some clues or indicators to the larger picture. In addition to Point-in-Time Count data, other data sources include:
● Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data and reports
● Coordinated Entry data
● Code Purple data
● Victim Service Provider data (separate from the HMIS for safety)
● School system data
In the future, the CoC hopes to include healthcare, behavioral healthcare, criminal justice, and other similar data to continue to build out the larger picture of homelessness in our community.