Single-day homelessness slightly rises in Washoe County despite overall drop

Washoe County saw a slight increase in single-day homelessness while comparative reports show an overall decrease in homelessness, according to the most recent Point in Time count (PIT).

The PIT is an annual, in-person count of the number of people experiencing homelessness in Washoe County, generally conducted in the last 10 days of January and required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The total number of people experiencing homelessness in Washoe County was 1,760 — which is a slight increase from last year's 1,690 people. The 4% increase includes 363 people who were living unsheltered such as in a tent, car, or on the street and 1,397 people living in emergency shelters or transitional housing programs.

“The fluctuations in sheltered and unsheltered populations are expected and provide us with an important glimpse into the factors that impact homelessness,” Catrina Peters, Northern Nevada Continuum of Care coordinator, said. “However, the PIT Count is only one tool we use to identify trends and to understand the population we are serving. The PIT Count paired with the Homeless Management Information System and the Built for Zero model is how we continue to work toward increased housing and decreased homelessness.”

While the Built for Zero monthly homeless count reflects a slightly different methodology of counting people who have activity within the last 90 days in the regional database, monthly year-over-year comparisons show reductions in the number of people experiencing homelessness. This is consistent with the reduction in the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the 2021 PIT Count, which was 780.

The PIT Count also includes a companion report, the Housing Inventory Chart, that is submitted to HUD. This report includes information on bed inventory and bed utilization. For the 2024 data, high utilization of emergency shelter beds was seen at 93 percent utilization overall, higher than Transitional Housing utilization, which was 73 percent.

According to the county, limited affordable housing for low and extremely low-income populations continues to make exits to permanent housing challenging for both sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness.

“Our region needs to continue to stay laser focused on increasing affordable housing for low- and extremely low-income populations in order to further move the needle on solving homelessness,” Washoe County Commission Chair Alexis Hill said. “I’m thrilled to see the continued collaboration across the region to solve this challenging problem. Although we have seen a slight increase in the PIT Count, Washoe County has housed 1,334 people in the last year, and we are seeing a decrease in recidivism with our tenancy support programs. We are continuing to follow the Built for Zero model and are committed to serve each individual and their unique needs. Creative solutions like the 50-unit supportive housing project at the Nevada Cares Campus, made possible with support from the Nevada Housing Division’s Home Means Nevada Initiative, will be a critical step forward in providing housing to our most vulnerable.”

During a press conference on Tuesday, acting secretary of HUD Adrianne Todman, announced $3.5 million of federal funds will be coming to Reno to address affordable housing and homelessness. This is part of a $5.5 billion nation-wide investment by the Biden-Harris Administration, of which a total of $44 million will be coming to Nevada.