Volunteers Needed for "Point in Time" Count

Header images for CSS Housing Innovation & Stabilization Services

For the first time in three years, volunteers will span out across city and county streets, shelters and encampments to identify individuals who are living without homes. It's the annual Everyone Counts Charlotte-Mecklenburg Point-in-Time Count, taking place on Thursday, Jan. 26. Volunteers will survey individuals who were living unsheltered on the night of Jan. 25 and sharing winter weather assistance items.

The Point-in-Time Count is an unduplicated one-night estimate of people experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness. It provides the number and characteristics of people who are homeless on the night of the count. Sheltered means that a person was in emergency shelter, safe haven or transitional housing on the night of the count. Unsheltered means that a person was on the street or in another place unfit for human habitation on the night of the count. One goal of finding unsheltered homeless individuals and families is to connect them to available resources.

Volunteers Needed: Mecklenburg County Community Support Services and its Housing Innovation and Stabilization Services Division (formerly Homeless Services) is leading the 2023 Point-in-Time Count and is seeking volunteers to help. Due to COVID-19 precauations, this is the first year since 2020 that volunteers are being asked to assist in the count. Anyone interested in volunteering can sign up here.

Information Session: An information session for volunteers is scheduled for Jan. 19 at 2 p.m. Learn more about volunteering and attending the information session (in-person or virtually).

A Point-in-Time Count is required annually by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and is intended to provide a snapshot of the sheltered and unsheltered. It is an important method to collect information that can inform local decision-making and provide Charlotte-Mecklenburg a gauge to progress in the work to end and prevent homelessness.

To learn more about the state of housing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, visit the Housing and Homelessness Dashboard.