Hays County reports homelessness data showing increase in unsheltered citizens

Each year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires counties to collect data on citizens experiencing homelessness on a single day in January. The Point-in-Time count is reported to HUD and helps direct the allocation of national funding to housing support programs.

The Hays County Homeless Coalition presented the 2026 data to the Hays County Commissioners Court on April 14, showing an increase in unsheltered citizens and indicating a possible need for increased access to transitional housing.

The overview

The 2026 PIT count was conducted on Jan. 22 throughout Texas. The Hays County Homeless Coalition organized the county’s 24-hour census, directing around 70 volunteers as they collected data on unhoused community members.

The PIT count represents a snapshot of homelessness in Hays County and is not a definitive measure of the issue, said Nancy Heintz, Hays County Homeless Coalition board member. The census shows county homelessness trends and provides insight into what programs may be most needed.

During the count day, volunteers collect data on citizens who are experiencing both unsheltered and sheltered homelessness. Data is collected on observed cases of homelessness when the individual could not be approached or did not wish to speak to the volunteers.

Unsheltered individuals include those who are living in places not meant for human habitation.

“We're seeing more people sleeping in their car and still going to work,” Heintz said. “It can be under a bridge, in the woods [or] wherever they can locate themselves and find a kind of safe place to sleep.”

Sheltered individuals are reported by emergency, temporary and transitional shelters, and include citizens who stayed in a shelter the night of Jan. 22.

“Despite a decline in total homelessness, the increase in unsheltered individuals suggests system strain and barriers to accessing shelters,” Heintz said. “It indicates a shift toward more acute, invisible forms of homelessness.”

Diving deeper

The Hays County Homeless Coalition presented the most recent McKinney-Vento report April 14 as well. The report, collected at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year, shows data on children registered in public schools who are experiencing homelessness.

“This does not include their parents,” Hays County Homeless Coalition co-Chair Lisa Young. “This does not include any siblings that have aged out and are no longer in the public school, or that have dropped out of the public school, and it does not include infants.”

Looking forward

The Hays County Homeless Coalition hopes to continue to meet with the county and secure more consistent funding for programs and organizations offering homeless services in the area.

“This is the minority of our population, but absolutely the most vulnerable part of our population,” Young said. “People who, in a freeze, are more likely to die, people who cannot get what they need, and definitely people that we see at the food bank every single day.”