Annual homeless count is happening this week

An annual tallying of people who are homeless in the Winchester, Frederick County and Clarke County region will happen today and Thursday, according to a media release from the Western Virginia Continuum of Care (CoC).

The Western Virginia CoC is a network of nonprofits, regional planners and government funders aimed at reducing and preventing homelessness. Each January, the organization conducts its Point-in-Time (PIT) count to provide a “snapshot of homeless individuals on one night each year.” The program does this by canvassing the region to find and survey those who are living in cars, abandoned buildings, local shelters and tents.

“The goal is to get an accurate census of everybody who’s experiencing homelessness, so that [the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] can allocate federal resources,” explained Kaitlin Heatwole, who is the Western Virginia CoC’s data lead.

Both locally and nationally, homelessness has been trending upward since the COVID-19 pandemic, Heatwole said.

In 2024, the PIT census identified 112 people without homes in Winchester, Frederick County and Clarke County. Eighty percent were found in local shelters, like Winchester Rescue Mission and Winchester Area Temporary Transitional Shelter, while the remaining 20% were unsheltered.

Last year, there was about an 8% increase from 2023’s PIT count in the greater Winchester region, according to Heatwole. And homelessness increased by 18% throughout the country in 2024, per nationwide PIT count numbers.

Heatwole described these totals as undercounts, with certain groups — like people staying in motels or people who are living at a friend’s or relative’s home — left out of the tally.

Those who are not staying at a shelter, who are on the streets or in their cars instead, are “a lot harder to find.” This year, though, the Western Virginia CoC has expanded its team of volunteers in hopes of identifying more people and coming back with a more accurate result. It’s still possible that the numbers for 2025 will end up lower than expected because this week’s intense cold could be driving more people into hotels and motels than usual, Heatwole said.

As the CoC’s volunteers canvas the community this week, they will not just be taking a headcount. They will also be surveying individuals on reasons for lacking a residence, which can help the CoC better understand and help the homeless.

“We’re not required to ask that question, but we do because it helps us understand why people are in that situation and what we can do to help them get out of it, get back into stable housing,” Heatwole said.

Last year’s most common response for the “single top reason” of homelessness throughout Western Virginia was unemployment or lack of income. A few other common answers were being unable to buy a place, eviction and inability to pay rent and mortgage, according to Heatwole.

“The straw that breaks the camel’s back for people is economic,” she said, “and it’s very tied up with housing as well.”

To learn more about the program, how to get involved or how to get help, visit continuumofcare513.com.