The 2020 Point in Time count is now in the books. Each year, hundreds of volunteers fan out across Austin to get a headcount of the people currently living without a home. For the 2020 count, nearly 1000 people turned up to assist.
The counts are a nationwide effort held in various cities each year during the final ten days of January. Once tallied, the counts help gauge how much federal assistance should be given to each city to address the issue.
Among the volunteers this year was Austin Mayor Steve Adler, who has also assisted in previous Point in Time counts. Prior to hitting the streets, Adler spoke to the group about what to expect, saying the people counted this year will probably be well short of the true number who are currently living on Austin’s streets.
“This is not perfect, so, these Point in Time counts don’t count everyone,” Adler said. “There are people that will be in places that we just can’t find.”
Austin’s counts have fluctuated over the years. In 2015, data from the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition showed a total of 1852 people living on the streets. But in 2016, the number spiked dramatically, jumping to 2138. 2017’s number then dipped slightly to 2036, following by 2147 in 2018, and 2255 in 2019. It’s widely believed the number counted for 2020 will surpass that of the previous year, which Adler says he’s hoping to see.
“I hope that the count is significantly higher than the count that we’ve gotten in the last several years. I hope we find more people today. I hope we are more able to identify where people are because we know if we do that, they’re that much closer to getting services,” Adler said.
Broken down into individual districts, council member Kathie Tovo’s District 9 saw the highest concentration of the homeless in 2019 with 439. Tovo’s district eoncompasses part of downtown Austin, which has historically been where the majority of the homeless population is located. Council member Sabino “Pio” Renteria’s District 3 saw the second-highest number of homeless last year, followed by council member Leslie Pool’s District 7.
Results of the 2020 count will likely take several weeks to be compiled.
