Photo Courtesy of Homeless Coalition of Hays County
It is vital to have accurate data on those that are unhoused in the community; the reasons for being unhoused, the amount of time without shelter, age and information on mental illness, substance abuse disorder and veteran status, are all critical to receiving federal funding and identifying the type of prevention programs needed to minimize this issue. The Homeless Coalition of Hays County, which is the local chapter of the Texas Homeless Network, conducts a Point in Time Count annually. The PIT count is a snapshot of the current data related to the unhoused that is gathered on a single night, which was Jan. 25. There were 246 total unhoused people found in Hays County in 2024 — the highest number found across the four years the survey has been conducted. This is done by other factions across the Texas Homeless Network (237 of the 254 counties) to develop statewide data related to the unhoused.
According to the PIT Count and Survey Analysis, the survey in Hays County was conducted by 50 volunteers and supported in additional ways by 17 task-assigned volunteers. The count illustrates increases or decreases over time in homelessness and provides information on the effectiveness of housing programs and services.
“We want to make homelessness brief, rare and nonrecurring as much as possible,” said Joshua Suthlerun, the Homeless Coalition of Hays County co-chair at the regularly scheduled Hays County Commissioners Court Tuesday. “These are the numbers that HUD uses to decide how much help a county needs or how much access we need to funding.”
Nancy Heintz, the Homeless Coalition of Hays County co-chair, said that Hays County has participated in the PIT count since 2020.
“We are seeing obviously for 2024 that there has been a drop in the sheltered count, which means they were either in an emergency shelter or a transitional housing,” Heintz said. “We have one emergency shelter, but it’s for the specific population of domestic violence. They do their own surveys. That’s part of the sheltered count. Also, BR3T is a hotel/ motel stay, which comes under a transitional, and then Southside [Community Center] is transitional.”
Heintz said the category labeled observations, is the number of people that “for one reason or another it wasn’t safe to approach … to do the survey [or] they weren’t willing to do the survey.” She said the reasons for counting the observed population as being unhoused is due to markers given by the Texas Homeless Network.
The survey stated that in 2020, there were a total of 128 unhoused people with 26 unsheltered people observed but not approached, 76 unsheltered people and 26 sheltered people. Heintz said due to the COVID-19 pandemic all unsheltered people fell under the observed category because it wasn’t safe to approach others in 2021. In 2021, 107 unsheltered people were observed but not approached. In 2022, there were 188 total unhoused people with 15 unsheltered people observed but not approached, 68 unsheltered people and 105 sheltered people. In 2023, there were 186 total unhoused people with 6 unsheltered people observed but not approached, 40 unsheltered people and 140 sheltered people. In 2024, there were 246 total unsheltered people — the highest number of unhoused people since the PIT count began — with 36 unsheltered people observed but not approached, 99 sheltered people and 111 unsheltered people.
The survey further breaks down the unsheltered and sheltered population for 2024. According to Heintz this does not count those that were observed but not approached because those people did not participate in the survey. For the 99 unsheltered people found in 2024: three were under 18 years-old, six were 18 to 24 years-old, 18 were 25 to 34 years old, 21 were between 35 to 44 years-old, 23 were 45 to 54 years-old, 18 were 55 to 64 years-old ten were 65 years or older, 15 had serious mental illness, eight had Substance Use Disorder, one had HIV/AIDS, four were survivors of domestic abuse, 13 were Veterans and 26 were chronically homeless. According to the Texas Homeless Network website, chronically homeless refers to people that have been unhoused for 12 months in the past three years.
For the 111 sheltered people found in 2024: 57 were under 18 years-old, six were 18 to 24 yearsold, 13 were 25 to 34 years-old, nine were 35 to 44 years-old, 13 were 45 to 54 years-old, nine were 55 to 64 years-old, four were 65 or older, ten had serious mental illness, one had Substance Use Disorder, zero had HIV/AIDS, 25 were survivors of domestic assault, three were Veterans and six were chronically homeless.
There is a map that shows how many unhoused people were found in which cities across the county. Heintz said Dripping Springs was not included because they did not find any unhoused people there. San Marcos had the highest number of unhoused people with 199. Wimberley had two unhoused people. Kyle had three unhoused people. Buda had five unhoused people.
For more information as to the numbers found across the state go tothn. org/thdsn/data.
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