Introduction to Homelessness Point-in-Time Count

Homelessness Point-in-Time Count can be used to enlist community volunteers to conduct point-in-time counts and understand the extent of homelessness in a community.

Homelessness is a complex problem brought on by the lack of affordable housing, unemployment, and the lack of mental health and addiction services. It is a human tragedy that is straining social resources and many government budgets. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires communities to regularly conduct point-in-time (PIT) counts of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness. The counts ensure funding is directed to communities and services that need it most. At the local level, point-in-time counts help organizations plan programs and measure progress decreasing homelessness. Understanding where homelessness is impacting the community helps organizations direct services, funding, and resources to those in need.

The Homelessness Point-in-Time Count solution delivers a set of capabilities that help Continuums of Care (CoC) enlist community volunteers to conduct point-in-time counts, manage participating volunteers, understand the extent of homelessness, and share point-in-time count reports with stakeholders.

Deploy the solution

This solution can be deployed in your ArcGIS organization.

Deploy the solution

See Deploying a solution for more information.

Requirements

Homelessness Point-in-Time Count requires the following:

• ArcGIS Online
• ArcGIS Hub Premium
• ArcGIS Survey123

Note:

To deploy this solution, the member must have either an administrator role or a custom role that includes the administrative privilege to publish web tools.

Information products

Homelessness Point-in-Time Count includes the following information products:

Item	Description	Minimum user type
Homelessness Point-in-Time Count	An ArcGIS Hub site used by the public to learn about the homelessness point-in-time count, volunteering opportunities, and provides information for approved volunteers on an internal page	Not required
Point-in-Time Count Volunteer Manager	An ArcGIS Experience Builder app used by point-in-time count coordinators to manage assignment areas, assign volunteers and monitor volunteers check ins	Creator
Point-in-Time Count Volunteer Notebook	An ArcGIS Notebooks app used by point-in-time coordinators to grant approved volunteers access to the Homelessness Point-in-Time Count survey and internal Hub page	Creator
Point-in-Time Count Volunteer Application	An ArcGIS Survey123 form used by the public to enroll as volunteers in the Point-in-Time Count	Community account
Point-in-Time Count Volunteer Check in	An ArcGIS Dashboards app used by deployment site staff to manage volunteer check ins	Contributor
Point-in-Time Count	An ArcGIS Survey123 form used by volunteers and outreach workers to conduct surveys of sheltered and unsheltered homelessness	Community account
Point-in-Time Count Dashboard	An ArcGIS Dashboards app used by directors visualize point-in-time count results to understand the extent of homelessness	Viewer
HUD Report	An ArcGIS Notebooks app used by the Point-in-Time coordinator to generate a homelessness point-in-time count report for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)	Creator

Note:

To use the Point-in-Time Count Volunteer Manager app, the user must have either an administrator role or a custom role that includes the general privileges to run web tools.

When you deploy this solution in your ArcGIS organization, you also get a solution item that organizes the key information products and summarizes all the ArcGIS items (applications, forms, projects, maps, feature layers, feature layer views, and so on) included with the solution. The solution item also illustrates any dependencies items have on each other.

Release notes

The following are the release notes:

Version	Description
4.0 (Nov 2025)	The Point-in-Time Count Volunteer Application form has been updated to allow volunteers to request friends and select multiple shifts. Corresponding updates have been made to the following items: The PITVolunteers feature layer now includes fields for volunteer friend information. The Point-in-Time Count Volunteer Manager web map now allows coordinators to view friend requests and assign multiple shifts. The Point-in-Time Count Volunteer Manager app now includes the new Point-in-Time Count Volunteer Notification web tool that allows the coordinator to notify volunteers of their approval and grant them access to the survey at any time during the approval process. The Point-in-Time Count Volunteer Check in app now uses dashboard editing for the check-in and check-out process. This capability has replaced the Volunteer Check in and Volunteer Check out surveys, which have been removed from the solution. The Point-in-Time Count survey has been updated to ensure that all information is collected when family members have been indicated. Additionally, the following updates have been made to align with HUD guidelines: Gender-related questions are hidden by default; however, organizations that wish to collect this information can choose to enable them. Questions about last known address and whether assistance is needed have been removed. The HUD Report notebook has been updated to remove gender questions to align with HUD reporting and updated to version 12 of the notebook runtime.
3.0 (Jun 2024)	The solution name has been changed from Homelessness Point-in-Time Counts to Homelessness Point-in-Time Count. The solution now includes several new apps to support volunteering workflows: Homelessness Point-in-Time Count ArcGIS Hub site, Point-in-Time Count Volunteer Application ArcGIS Survey123 form, Point-in-Time Count Volunteer Manager ArcGIS Experience Builder app, and Point-in-Time Count Volunteer Notebook. The HUD Report notebook, Point-in-Time Count dashboard, and Point-in-Time Count form have been updated to support modified questions, based on the HUD 2024 Point-in-Time count data standards and other minor enhancements. The Point-in-Time Count form now includes Spanish as an option. The solution now includes a series of new Homelessness Point-in-Time Count maps, feature layers and feature layer views.
2.3 (Nov 2023)	A new HUD Report notebook that resolves an issue in which the survey records for Asian American and American Indian or Alaskan Native were not being calculated accurately (BUG-000157330). Reference documentation topics for this release
2.2 (Jun 2023)	An update to the HUD Report and Homelessness Counts form to support modified age questions, based on the HUD 2022 Point-in-Time count data standards. A new Homelessness Count Dashboard.
2.1 (Apr 2022)	Name changed from Homeless Point-in-Time Counts to Homelessness Point-in-Time Counts. All layers, map, apps, and projects have been updated to use the term homelessness instead of homeless. A new Homelessness Count Dashboard. An update to the Homelessness Counts form and supporting layers to permit changes to the form.
2.0 (Nov 2021)	An update to the Homeless Counts form to support modified demographic questions, based on the HUD 2022 Point-in-Time count data standards. A new Homeless Count Dashboard. A new HUD Report notebook that supports the updated data standards.
1.1 (Feb 2021)	A new version of the HUD Report notebook that resolves an issue in which the point in-time observations were not calculated.
1.0 (Nov 2020)	The first release of Homeless Point-in-Time Counts.