Volunteers needed for annual Tucson homeless point-in-time count

Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness needs 500 volunteers for January’s point-in-time count, ramping up the number of people helping the annual effort to find out how many people are homeless in Pima County.

Each year, dozens of volunteers head out in the early morning hours to count the number of people who are unsheltered, at an emergency shelter, transitional housing, or a “safe haven” on a single night. Last year, the group asked for 360 volunteers, and more than 400 people joined the effort from community, government agencies, and partnering non-profits.

The next point-in-time is scheduled for Jan. 28, 2026 from 6 to 11 a.m.

During the count, volunteers will disperse across the county to survey
unsheltered people at “bus stops, encampments, washes and desert areas,
and other public spaces,” officials said. Each team will use a
standardized electronic survey to gather essential data to inform local and federal planning, funding, and services.

Officials said volunteers do not
need prior experience. TPCH will provide training and volunteers will be attached to a team with experienced leads. More information about January’s count and registration is available at https://tpch.net/point-in-time-count.

“The
Point-in-Time Count is a huge community-wide effort every year. It takes
hundreds of volunteers and months of planning. Volunteering is a
wonderful way to connect with your community and support our unhoused
neighbors, and we’re thankful to our volunteers who sign up year after
year,” said Kat Davis, continuum of care manager for Housing and
Community Development at the City of Tucson.

Previous count shows decline

The last point-in-time count found 2,218 people were experiencing homelessness in the Tucson region. Of those, around 1,276 were living without shelter in Pima County. 766 were in emergency shelters, 160 people in transitional housing, and 16 were at a “safe haven,” according to data released in June.

Since 2022, overall PIT numbers have remained relatively flat, “even as other regions experience steep increases,” said TPCH. The number of people experiencing homelessness in Pima County dropped 23 percent, while the number of people in some kind of shelter increased 63 percent, “showing that the system is effectively scaling to meet demand and provide safer alternatives to the street,”  the group said.

The 2025 count also covered a larger part of the county by including Ajo and Catalina. 

Over the last several years, Pima County’s homeless population rapidly expanded, driven largely by a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2018, data showed around 1,380 people lived without shelter, but by 2022 that jumped to 2,227.

TPCH did not conduct a count in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our community is still recovering from the economic consequences of COVID, including rising housing and living costs, job loss, and the end of the eviction moratorium, which have all led directly to the rise of homelessness,” said TPCH in June. 

“Even though the PIT Count only gives a snapshot of homelessness for one night in our community, the annual count is an important tool used to inform priorities for federal, state, and local funding,” said TPCH. “It also helps identify trends and craft solutions for the needs of vulnerable individuals and families.”

Officials in Pima County said “while the total number of people experiencing homelessness remains high, there are several encouraging signs that our local strategies are working.”

In November, city and county officials cleared out 100-Acre Wood Bike Park, emptying out what had become Tucson’s largest homeless encampment.

Over the summer, the Tucson City Council voted 5-1 to make it a misdemeanor to camp in city washes—an effort intended to mitigate the consequences of Prop. 312—a law approved by voters last November allowing Arizonans to get a refund on their property taxes if they can prove local governments neglected to address the negative effects of homelessness nearby.

The city also criminalized standing on medians in March. Both measures passed despite serious opposition from advocates, who said the new laws would perpetuate cycles of poverty and homelessness by imposing fines on people with no way to pay them.

Since 2007, cities and counties that provide care for homeless people are required to conduct point-in-time surveys in January, and send that information to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help guide federal dollars for shelters, housing and support services.

In January, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its own annual assessment of homelessness and said the number of unsheltered people rose 18 percent in the country since 2023. In Arizona it increased 3.5 percent.

Nearly all segments of people experiencing homelessness reached record levels in 2024: people in families with children, single people, people with chronic patterns of homelessness, people staying in unsheltered locations such as in cars or outside, people staying in shelters, and unaccompanied youth all reached the highest levels ever reported in 2024, according to HUD.

Officials attributed this to several factors: a worsening nationwide affordable housing crisis, inflation, stagnating wages and the effects of systemic racism “stretched homelessness services to their limits” the report said, while public health crises, natural disasters that displaced many from their homes, and the end of pandemic-era homelessness prevention programs such as eviction moratoriums amplified the problem.

The Trump administration moved to slash HUD funding, prompting a lawsuit from a coalition of 19 attorneys general and two governors to file a lawsuit over changes to federal housing policy that placed new conditions on, and significantly cut funding for, permanent supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness.