Hundreds of community members, elected officials and homelessness service providers gathered Jan. 28 to conduct the first regional point-in-time count of Austin and Travis County's unhoused residents since 2020.

The biennial survey, on hold since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, is used for both federal tracking purposes and to give the community an idea of the makeup of the local homeless population on any given night. The count is led by the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, or ECHO, which manages the regional homeless information system and coordinates other services and funding.

The overnight count kicked off this year in the early hours of Jan. 28 as hundreds of volunteers met at St. Martin's Lutheran Church and across the city to prepare for the canvass. Point-in-time volunteers broke off into dozens of groups that walked or drove through specific areas of the city to meet with anyone living on the street and collect personal and demographic information for the count.

“It’s hard to feel anything but gratitude when you have all these volunteers here,” ECHO Executive Director Matt Mollica said before the count began. “[Tonight] is a chance to bring the community together and give folks a snapshot of what it’s like to be in this situation.”

Mollica said this year’s count is a “wild card” as the quality of the data ECHO ends up releasing is dependent on volunteers. In 2020, about 1,100 volunteers joined ECHO for a count that estimated the county's homeless population at around 2,500. This year, Mollica said around 800 to 850 people joined the event.

After the count was paused amid pandemic-related health concerns, ECHO adopted a new data-centered system designed to track the unhoused population without in-person canvassing. The organization estimated 3,838 people were experiencing unsheltered homelessness as of December alongside 818 people living in shelter.Following the count, ECHO will spend months compiling demographic information and reviewing the location data collected the night of to make sure no one was counted twice. The full report on the 2023 count will be released in late spring.

“What you’re seeing on this night is a lead-up to several months of work,” Mollica said.

Community Impact joined the count to attend the event's kickoff and accompany a volunteer group canvassing the western side of downtown Austin on Jan. 28.

When volunteers encountered a person experiencing homelessness, they asked them if they are open to answering a few questions. If they accepted, volunteers walked them through a 10-minute survey to gauge how long they have been unhoused, if they have access to community resources and other demographic information.

Survey results are entered into a website that uses location tracking to make sure no unhoused person is counted twice. Volunteers also handed out food, water and resource guides.

ECHO conducts its count throughout the night to get a more accurate picture of where people experiencing homelessness in Travis County are staying as residents tend to congregate downtown during the daytime, volunteers said.

“We are recognizing this is the middle of the night. We would not choose to be up in the middle of the night, and no one else would,” said Ruth Ahearn, practice administrator at Integral Care for housing and health care for the homeless initiatives and a count volunteer team lead.

Mitchell David Breese said he is homeless after recently spending several nights in a shelter bed during cold weather. He said while he is not connected with a case manager, he is pursuing odd jobs when possible, although he did not have work lined up as of the count.

“This is what happens when you don’t really have a set schedule; you stay up forever,” he said during the count.

John Bossert, 42, said he has been experiencing homelessness in Austin since Aug. 10. Bossert said if feasible, he prefers staying with a friend he trusts rather than seeking out shelters.

“The last time I [sought out] services, it was horrific. There was a man yelling and screaming in the air, and he wouldn’t stop,” Bossert said. “I just don’t want to deal with it.”