A snapshot of homelessness through Colorado’s Point-in-Time Count

Each January, Colorado participates in the Point-in-Time (PIT) count, a snapshot of the people experiencing homelessness on a single night throughout the state. The PIT count is required to take place by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development sometime during the last ten days of the month. This year’s count is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, January 28.

Colorado’s annual PIT count is administered by the Balance of State Continuum of Care (CoC), part of the Division of Housing. The statewide PIT count focuses on Colorado’s non-metro and rural counties, while PIT counts of the metro counties are conducted at a local level. The PIT count relies on the efforts of Continuum of Care staff and volunteers – Regional PIT Coordinators recruit and train volunteers in each county to travel to places where they expect people experiencing homelessness to be in order to administer the survey. Those interested in volunteering for the PIT count can find contact information for their region from the CoC website.

The Colorado PIT count has two goals:

1. Conduct an unduplicated count of individuals and families meeting the federal definition of homelessness.
2. Capture information about demographic characteristics, disabling conditions, and sub-populations related to homelessness.

Every odd-numbered year, the PIT count captures information about both sheltered and unsheltered individuals. The sheltered count surveys individuals and families staying in temporary shelters and longer-term supportive housing. The unsheltered count includes individuals and families whose primary nighttime residence is a place not typically used as sleeping accommodations. Examples could include a car, a campground, or a bus or train station.

The most recent PIT count that included both sheltered and unsheltered counts took place in 2023 and found that 2,210 people (both adults and children) were experiencing homelessness on the night of the PIT count. Recent PIT count reports from 2016 to the present can be found on the state’s CoC website. Older reports are available in our digital collection:

• Winter 2007  
• Summer 2006
• Summer 2001
• Fall 2000
• Youth homelessness in Colorado, 2017-2020 (supplement to the PIT count report)

Those looking for resources to help people experiencing homelessness can find housing and financial aid on the Division of Housing website and immediate housing assistance is available by calling 2-1-1.