What Did We Learn from the 2019 PIT Count?

By Robert Davis

Every January, volunteers affiliated with the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative bundle up and walk the streets of Denver to identify homeless people for the Point in Time (PIT) Count. This count occurs across the nation, and the data collected helps the Department of Housing and Urban  Development identify key areas of need and allows local communities to understand the needs of homeless people in their neighborhoods.  

The 2019 PIT count measured homelessness in seven counties: Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson. Results for the 2019 PIT were released in August, and they reveal some staggering statistics about homelessness in Denver. However, housing activists claim these numbers are not an accurate depiction of homelessness in the city. 

“If they’re lucky enough to have a car, that’s where they’ll spend the night,” Cheryl Talley, director of communication for Catholic Charities in Denver, told Denverite in August. “They’re much more apt to be in places where they can’t be surveyed because they choose safety.”

Homelessness increased 8.2 percent in the metro Denver area, with 5,755 individuals identified during the count. Within the last year, 428 people became homeless, and 69 percent of these individuals live in Denver County, alone. Of that total, 494 identified as veterans,196 were unaccompanied youth (under the age of 25), and 353 were fleeing domestic or interpersonal violence.  

The number of people reported as living in a shelter, transitional housing, or other safe haven was 4,809 people, a 17 percent increase from 2017. There were 1,402 families identified as well, which is nearly double the amount reported in 2018. 

There were 258 families with at least one child under 18, and 798 people in these households. Nearly one-quarter of the 1,158 people experiencing chronic homelessness are unsheltered. 

Even those who participate in the count believe they are not accurately capturing a picture of the problem. “The extreme undercount does not consider the thousands of people couch-surfing at a friend’s, staying with family, hopping between motels, or sleeping in their cars every night,” Denver Homeless Out Loud said in a press release. “When considering all the known parameters of homelessness, we know there are at least 10,000 people living without a home in Denver.” ■