The Invisible Crisis: How the Point-in-Time Count Fails Families with Children
The annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count, convened by the US Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD), is a critical tool for measuring homelessness in America. However, for families with children, this count often fails to capture the full scope of the crisis. By design, the PIT count focuses on individuals and families who are unsheltered or in emergency shelters on a single night in January, leaving out those who experience homelessness in less visible ways—like living in motels, doubled up with other families, or are simply hiding for the safety of their kids.
For families with children, these "invisible" forms of homelessness are often the most common. According to the U.S. Department of Education, more than 1.4 million students experienced homelessness during the 2022-2023 school year—a number vastly higher than what the PIT count reflects. The narrow definitions used by HUD and the PIT count exclude families who do not meet HUD’s strict criteria, despite facing the same instability and lack of access to permanent housing.
How the PIT Count Impacts Funding
The undercounting of families with children has significant consequences for funding and resources. Federal and state funding for homelessness services is allocated based largely on PIT count data, meaning that areas with higher PIT counts receive more support. By failing to accurately capture the number of families experiencing homelessness, the PIT count skews the allocation of resources, leaving shelter and housing programs that serve families drastically underfunded.
This underfunding has ripple effects:
Inadequate Shelter Resources: Family shelters and transitional housing programs often operate at capacity, with long waitlists and limited ability to expand due to funding constraints.
Understaffed Services: Programs designed to provide wraparound support for retention—like case management, childcare, and mental health services—are stretched thin. These evidence-based solutions are a core component of the housing first model and are necessary in providing families the comprehensive care they need to stabilize.
Limited Prevention Programs: Without adequate funding, upstream solutions to prevent family homelessness, such as rental assistance and eviction prevention, are underfunded or even nonexistent.
Why This Matters for Families
Families experiencing homelessness often face unique challenges that require specialized interventions. Children in these families are particularly vulnerable, experiencing higher rates of developmental delays, poor academic outcomes, and trauma-related mental health challenges. By leaving them out of the count—and thus underfunding programs tailored to their needs—the system perpetuates cycles of poverty and housing instability.
Advocating for Change
To address these issues, we must:
Broaden Definitions of Homelessness: HUD should adopt a more inclusive definition that aligns with other federal agencies, such as the Department of Education, to capture families in motels, doubled-up situations, and other forms of hidden homelessness.
Advocate for More Comprehensive Data: Communities should invest in year-round data collection efforts that go beyond the PIT count to provide a more accurate picture of family homelessness.
Increase Funding for Family-Centered Services: Policymakers must recognize the unique needs of families with children and allocate resources to programs that provide shelter, housing, and wraparound services.
Families experiencing homelessness deserve to be seen and supported. The PIT count's limitations shouldn’t determine their access to the resources they need to thrive. By advocating for more accurate data and equitable funding, we can ensure that no family is left behind.