Every year, Lane County Human Services Division conducts an annual census of people experiencing homelessness on a single night, called the Point-in-Time (PIT) Count.

This is part of a federal requirement from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for communities across the nation who receive funding for homelessness work. This year’s count will be conducted from 7 a.m. on Thursday, January 26th to 7 p.m. on Friday, January 27th.

“Homelessness is a condition that extends far beyond the more visible symptoms we’ve come to characterize it with,” said Lane County Health & Human Services Director, Eve Gray. “You can’t solve a problem that you can’t see, and getting a clear, dynamic understanding of homelessness is the first step to solving it.”

The PIT Count is meant to serve as a snapshot of homelessness Lane County in order "to provide a sense of the general scope and state of homelessness," officials said.

While the data collected is important for benchmarking and funding purposes, it’s important to recognize that the number of individuals experiencing homelessness is likely greater than what is able to be captured in this snapshot.

This year, teams of LCHSD staff members will conduct a physical count of individuals who are unsheltered in the Eugene/Springfield area, Veneta, Florence, Junction City, and Coburg. That data will be cross-referenced with the Homeless by Name List, a database of individuals who are experiencing homelessness and have interacted with service agencies in order to provide a more complete picture.

Additionally, Lane County is a Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) Community, selected by HUD to test best and promising practices and implement a coordinated community plan to end youth homelessness. As part of this effort, LCHS will be taking extra steps to ensure youth who are experiencing homelessness are captured in the 2023 PIT Count, including those who are unstably housed or couch surfing. These efforts include pop-up magnet events on the day of the count to bring youth in to complete a survey.

Just as with the broader count, these surveys will be cross-referenced with our HBNL and, if the young person is not already captured, they will be included in our count, provided they meet HUD’s definition and parameters for submission in the PIT Count. Those unstably housed or couch surfing will not be included in the data provided to HUD, but will be captured in local data to inform our YHDP planning efforts. Youth surveyors will be available through the Eugene Library, Youth ERA, Lane Community College, and youth-specific outreach in the metro and rural areas on the day of the count. This year’s youth PIT Count strategies have been vetted and approved through the YHDP Youth Executive committee.

The full report from the PIT Count won’t be available for several months after the count is conducted.