HUD Resources Available for the Point in Time Count
HUD has published this site to share tools and resources to aid communities in conducting an effective point in time count. Key resources within this and other related sites include:

• HUD Exchange (HDX) Frequently Asked Questions

• Safety Considerations for Counting During COVID-19: HUD guidance related to safety and the Point in Time Count

• Conducting the 2021 Unsheltered PIT Count: This document provides guidance to Continuums of Care (CoCs) on how to safely conduct the 2021 Point-in-Time (PIT) count during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• How to Use Sampling Within a CoC to Conduct and Unsheltered PIT Count: This guide describes how CoCs can use a sampling approach to estimate a total count of the number of people within their communities who are experiencing unsheltered homelessness on the night of the PIT count. While this sampling guidance is applicable for any year, CoCs that typically canvass and count their full geographic area may want to use a sampling strategy for the 2022 count in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Better HUD Oversight of Data Collection Could Improve Estimates of Homeless Population: A report from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) to the US House of Representatives (July 2020), detailing recommendations to HUD for improving the Point in Time Count in 3 key areas:
  • Increased quality checks on methodologies
  • Improved instructions for sampling techniques
  • Enhanced assistance to CoCs

• Notice CPD-21-12: Notice for Housing Inventory Count (HIC) and Point-in-Time (PIT) Count Data Collection for Continuum of Care (CoC) Program and the Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) Program: This Notice outlines HUD’s requirements for the HIC and PIT count. 

• PIT Count Volunteer Training Toolkit is a collection of resources to support CoCs in training and providing supplemental resources to volunteers to conduct PIT counts.
   
• Point in Time Count Planning Worksheet can assist communities in planning for and conducting their point-in-time counts. The document provides a list of all the major steps in planning the count, and offersa way to record information on major decisions related to the count. 
   
• Point in Time Mobile Application: A Guide for Using Mobile Applications for Point-In-Time Counts.  This document provides feedback from thirteen communities that used mobile technology to support their Point in Time Count.
   
• PIT and HIC Guides, Tools, and Webinars: This site contains several resources communities can use to plan and conduct their counts.
   
• Crosswalk of Key Federally-funded Child and Youth Homeless Contacts: The U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and HUD worked together to update the list of contacts for each community’s education liaisons, Continuum of Care primary contact, and Runaway and Homeless Youth provider, where those resources are available.
   
• PIT Count Office Hours: HUD conducted PIT count office hours in June 2019 during which the virtues of utilizing mobile tech to support the PIT count were emphasized.
   
• Point-in-Time (PIT) Count Standards and Methodologies Training, June 2018
   
• The Point In Time Methodology Guide provides CoCs with standards and guidance concerning acceptable methodology for conducting the count.
   
• The Point In Time Data Extrapolation Tool is a HUD tool that allows regions to use the data that they were able to collect to produce estimated counts for key demographic categories, such as race and gender, for which they were unable to gather detailed information from every person surveyed.  

If you have questions about conducting your HIC and PIT counts, please submit them to the HDX Ask A Question (AAQ) portal on the HUD Exchange website. To submit a question to the HDX AAQ portal, select “HDX: Homelessness Data Exchange” from the “My question is related to” drop down list on Step 2 of the question submission process.