Increase in number of homeless people? Annual count says yes, though results imperfect

Pierce County’s annual Point In Time (PIT) count recorded a nearly 24% percent increase in the number of people living unhoused in the region in 2024 compared to the previous year.

In a single night in January, the county counted 2,661 people sleeping in shelters, vehicles and in tents on the streets. The previous year, 2,148 people were counted.

The Point In Time Count is not a perfect measure of the entirety of the people living unhoused in the county.

Steve Decker is CEO for Family Promise of Pierce County, an organization that uses intensive case management to get families experiencing homelessness back on their feet.

Decker called the PIT count “falsehood,” as the data it reports is limited both by the number of volunteers that turn out to conduct it and the fact that they are attempting to quantify a largely unseen population.

Devon Isakson is the social service supervisor for Pierce County Human Services, the department that coordinates the annual count. Isakson told The News Tribune that approximately 250 volunteers helped conduct the survey, which took place across all corners of the county during a period of 24 hours.

Isakson said that the count is not the “end all be all” and serves as a snapshot to inform the county of the population it is trying to serve.

“The count is usually lower than what we think the information is really,” Isakson said during a Tacoma Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness meeting on May 24, a day after the data was released.

“Like all surveys, the PIT Count has limitations,” the county’s website stated of the process. “Results from the Count are influenced by the weather, by availability of overflow shelter beds, by the number of volunteers, and by the level of engagement of the people we are interviewing.”

The survey is a method used by many counties, as it is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Washington State Department of Commerce.

“The Point-In-Time Count provides the homeless assistance community with the data needed to understand the number and characteristics of persons who are homeless at one point in time,” the Housing and Urban Development stated regarding the requirement.

The broad majority of people identified in 2024 were counted in shelters or transitional housing. According to the data, 54% of those counted were staying in shelters or transitional housing, with 21% accounting for folks living outdoors — either on the street or in a tent. Sixteen percent of those surveyed did not report where they were sleeping.

Isakson said this year’s effort included a larger emphasis on counting people who were living in vehicles than in previous years.

This year, 8% of all the people counted were living in vehicles, compared to 6% in 2023.

According to the 2024 PIT data, 33% of the people counted were BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color), 37% were female, 20% were over 55 years old, 8% were veterans and 25% were considered to be “chronically homeless.”

Those percentages were comparable to the 2023 numbers, with the largest difference being that 41% of people counted in 2023 were of the BIPOC community.

Isakson said explanations as to why the number of BIPOC people identified during the 2024 count was less than the previous years were “speculative,” as the county works to better understand the significance of the data.

“It could mean we have more culturally competent services, or it could mean that we just surveyed less,” she said during a Tacoma Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness meeting.

Forty-three percent of those surveyed in 2024 reported living in Pierce County before becoming homeless, with 13% reporting having previously lived in other counties in Washington or in another state. Forty-four percent did not report where they had lived previous to becoming homeless.

Pierce County staff member Valeri Almony said the count is not “just a data point, it’s an educational tool,” as it allows volunteers to both better understand the circumstances faced by the unhoused in Pierce County as well as an opportunity for them to be educated about available resources.

The survey also asks people about disabilities they have. Alimony said during the Tacoma Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness meeting that disabilities are self-reported and that people can report having more than one disability.

This year, 26% of people reported having a substance-use issue, 25% reported a chronic health condition, 22% reported a physical disability, 20% reported a mental health issue and 8% reported a developmental disability.

The largest difference from 2023, was that 37% of those surveyed reported “mental illness.”

In 2024, the top reasons why folks became homeless were “no affordable housing,” followed by “family crisis” and “eviction.”

The previous year, “family crisis” was the No. 1 cause reported for homelessness, followed by lack of affordable housing and eviction and mortgage foreclosure.