COVID-19 coverage, Latest News, News Every January, a team of staff and volunteers from Clark County counts the number of individuals who are homeless in the county on a specific day. This Point in Time (PIT) count, coordinated by the Council for the Homeless, offers a snapshot of the county’s homeless population. However, due to restrictions on the count imposed by the pandemic, the 2021 count presents a somewhat different picture of this population than did previous PIT reports.
Only individuals who are sheltered (those living in a designated temporary or emergency shelter or transitional housing) were counted in the 2021 project, as a result of the CFTH’s concerns for the safety and health of those counting and those being counted. In previous years, the total number of people who are homeless on the count date included people who are sheltered and those living “unsheltered” in a place not meant for human habitation. This could be a car, a tent, sidewalk, or a trailer with no running water or electricity.
In the 2020 count, 958 people experiencing homelessness were identified during the one-night counts, with 487 people living unsheltered. The number of individuals sheltered in 2021 (375) was down by 20 percent from the 471 people who were sheltered in 2020.
The PIT sheltered count in 2021, while lower than the 2020 count, did not necessarily mean fewer families and individuals were seeking shelter in late January, said Kate Budd, executive director, Council for the Homeless. For instance, one “severe weather” emergency shelter with 40 beds was not open because the weather was not severe on the count date.
“Another factor was that fewer people were interested in congregate shelters this winter due to COVID,” Budd said. “Many people felt it was safer to shelter in a tent or car rather than a building, which makes sense when we are all being encouraged to socially distance.”
