The Count was last conducted in January 2021; however, the results of the 2021 Count were not directly comparable to prior years’ results due to changes in methodology necessitated by the pandemic. With the return to standard methodology for this year’s Count, including the use of 480 volunteers from the community and from partner agencies of The Way Home, the Coalition will be able to resume facilitating comparisons with data from 2020 and prior years.

“The intent of the Count is to identify trends in homelessness over time in order to better recognize successes in the homeless response system, as well as areas for growth,” said Dr. Catherine Troisi, Associate Professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health and co-author of the report. “It is not possible to locate and survey every single person experiencing homelessness across the Houston area, but the Count captures a snapshot of what homelessness looks like on a given night. When the same methodology is used consistently, we can analyze those numbers year-over-year to identify trends. Each year, the Coalition gains new and critical insights on how Houston’s homeless population has changed over the years.”

The 2022 Count results shed valuable insights on the effectiveness of the Community COVID Housing Program (CCHP). Originally announced in July 2020 and initiated in October 2020, Phase 1 of the CCHP uses federal COVID relief funding from the City of Houston and Harris County as well as private philanthropic support to place people experiencing homelessness into housing. The initial goal of Phase 1 was to rehouse 5,000 people by September 2022; as of mid-February, more than 7,720 people had been rehoused. Phase 2 was announced in January 2022 to house 7,000 additional people by 2024.

In 2021 alone, the partners of The Way Home placed more than 3,870 people into permanent housing, which includes permanent supportive housing (PSH) and rapid rehousing (RRH). Including diversion — preventing people “on the verge” from falling into homelessness — more than 6,630 people were rehoused though the CCHP last year.

“In examining the results of this year’s Count, we have gained a deeper understanding of how our homeless response system is succeeding and identified areas for improvement,” said Michael Nichols, president and CEO of the Coalition for the Homeless. “The Way Home continues to prove how collaboration among governments, nonprofits, and philanthropy can provide long-term fiscally and morally responsible solutions to homelessness. At the same time, we know that we have more work ahead of us as we strive to solve homelessness in Houston.”

Key findings from the 2022 Homeless Count include:

• One out of eight people (13%) experiencing unsheltered homelessness indicated they were homeless due to COVID.
• More than 8,500 people were living in a housing program of The Way Home on the night of Jan. 24, 2022.
• More than 25,000 people have been placed in permanent housing since 2011.
• 1,502 people experiencing homelessness on the night of the Count were unsheltered.
• 1,721 people experiencing homelessness on the night of the Count were sheltered.
• The decrease in the sheltered count is likely due to limited availability of beds as a result of the pandemic. Local shelters practiced social distancing and had to decrease density, and some shelters closed completely. In addition, people experiencing homelessness may have been reluctant to stay at a shelter due to fear of the virus. 

The Count is used by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to determine the effectiveness of collaboration and homeless programs in Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery counties. The annual Count cannot provide an exact number of people experiencing homelessness for several reasons, including the daily fluctuating number and the vast area (3,700+ square miles) being canvassed by volunteers. However, it is considered a critical metric and is highly effective at illustrating trends over time. The Count results are combined with additional data points, like the information tracked in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), to gauge progress of the local homeless response system.

As in past years, the 2022 Count & Survey data was analyzed by the Coalition in consultation with Dr. Troisi. The full Homeless Count & Survey Independent Analysis is available online here and a two-page fact sheet is available here.

For more information and for results of previous years’ counts, please click here.