Community  Data

Housing Inventory Count (HIC) and Point in Time Count (PIT)

Housing Inventory Count (HIC)

Continuum of Care (CoC) Homeless Assistance Programs Housing Inventory Count Reports provide a snapshot of a CoC’s HIC, an inventory of shelter and housing conducted annually during the last ten days in January, and are available at the national and state level, as well as for each CoC. The reports tally the number of beds and units available on the night designated for the count by program type, and include beds dedicated to serve persons who are homeless as well as persons in Permanent Supportive Housing. Since 2014, the reports also include data on beds dedicated to serve specific sub-populations of persons.

Point-in-Time Count

The Point-in-Time (PIT) count is a count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons on a single night in January. HUD requires that all Continuums of Care, such as Athens-Clarke County (ACC), conduct an annual count of homeless persons who are sheltered in emergency shelter, transitional housing, and safe havens on a single night as well as those living in places not meant for human habitation, in cars, on the streets, etc. In 2023, ACC’s Sheltered Homeless PIT count took place on the evening of January 26, 2023 and the Unsheltered Homeless PIT count took place on the morning of January 27, 2023.

Why is the PIT Important?

The PIT count is important because it establishes the dimensions of local homelessness and provides data which guides policymakers and service providers toward the goal of addressing homelessness. The data collected creates a narrative of homelessness in Athens, which also increases public awareness and helps communities create ground-level responses to guide the eradication of the homelessness in ACC.

Methodology

How are the Sheltered Homeless Counted?

HCD staff collaborates with the following agencies to conduct the sheltered count:  Athens Area Homeless Shelter, Bigger Vision, Family Promise of Athens (formerly IHN), Live Forward (formerly AIDS Athens), Project Safe, The Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Salvation Army.  Homeless shelter providers submit PIT count information for housed clients on the night of the Sheltered PIT (January 26, 2023). Some of the information collected through a provider-level survey include race, ethnicity, gender, age, DV status, family-size, and chronic homelessness status. 

How are the Unsheltered Homeless Counted?

ACC conducted the unsheltered PIT count on the morning of January 27, 2023.  To complete this task, HCD staff collaborated with Advantage Behavioral Health Systems, Family Promise of Athens, LiveForward, Athens Area Homeless Shelter, Athens Downtown Development Authority, The Sparrow’s Nest, Our Daily Bread, local students, and volunteers from the ACC Homeless Coalition.

To count the total number of people in the unsheltered population during the PIT count, the partners listed above surveyed various locations where homeless individuals often congregate and receive services. In the areas canvassed, the count volunteers surveyed all people encountered during the count; however, only those identified as homeless were included in the PIT count final data. The following information and methods were used to de-duplicate the count of the total number of people included in the sheltered count:  comparison of personally identified information (PII), comparison of unique client identifiers (not PII), and interview/survey questions with screening questions (e.g. have you already completed a count survey).  

2023 ACC PIT Count Report

Data from the 2023 Housing Inventory Count (HIC) and the Homeless Point in Time (PIT) Count is now available. The PIT Count was conducted on Friday January 27th, 2023. Please see the following report.

2023 Results

The number of homeless individuals and families counted in the 2023 PIT count increased by 20% from last year’s count. In the 2023 PIT count, ACC HCD staff, members of the Athens Homeless Coalition and community volunteers counted a total of 342 homeless individuals – 165 sheltered individuals and families; 177 unsheltered individuals. The number of unsheltered individuals increased while the number of sheltered individuals decreased.  For context, one of the local shelters was operating at a reduced capacity at the time of this count, and the First Step Encampment counts as unsheltered by HUD’s definition.

Over 75% said that they lived in Athens before becoming homeless, 53% have lived in Athens for longer than 6 years, and over 50% said that the reason they came to Athens was friends and family.

Note: ACC received an exemption from HUD for the Unsheltered PIT count in 2021 due to safety concerns related to the pandemic.

2023 Demographic Details

Gender: 55% men, 44% women, 1% other

Age: 6% are seniors, 68% are adults, 6% are transitional youth, and 20% are children

Race: 38% are white, 56% are Black, and 5% are other or multiracial

Hispanic/Latino: 4.5% identify as Hispanic/Latino

Veteran: 5% served in the military

Demographic Trends

2020 Barriers to Housing Details

Chronically homeless: 24% of adults surveyed are Chronically Homeless             

Mental Illness: 39% of adults surveyed suffer from a Serious Mental Illness

Physical Disability: 34% of adults surveyed suffer from a Physical Disability

Substance Abuse: 23% of adults surveyed suffer from a Substance Abuse Disorder

Domestic Violence Survivors: 5% of individuals surveyed are Victims of Domestic Violence

Athens-Clarke County 2023 Homeless Inventory Count

What types of Beds are Available in Athens-Clarke County?

What housing options are available in Athens-Clarke County?

Across all project types the 2013 HIC reported 312 individual beds and 391 family beds. Emergency housing was evenly split, while transitional housing programs had more family beds and permanent supportive programs had more individual beds.

Transitional Housing provides temporary lodging and is designed to facilitate the movement of homeless individuals and families into permanent housing within a specified period of time, but no longer than 24 months.

Rapid Rehousing assistance provides HUD homeless individuals living in shelters or on the streets with short (up to 3 months) to medium (3-24 months) term financial assistance and support to become self-sufficient. While receiving financial assistance to pay for things such as rent, deposits and utilities, all program participants receive intensive case management to foster stability, self-sufficiency, and independence.

Permanent Supportive Housing provides long-term housing for people who would otherwise be chronically homeless, demonstrate need for long-term housing support, and have a chronic and disabling mental health or physical health problem. Advantage Behavioral Health Systems and Live Forward are two Permanent Supportive Housing providers in Athens-Clarke County.

Another permanent support housing program is VA-VASH, which combines HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher rental assistance for homeless Veterans with case management and clinical services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

2022 ACC HIC & PIT Count Report

Data from the 2022 Housing Inventory Count (HIC) and the Homeless Point in Time (PIT) Count is available here. The 2022 PIT Count was conducted on February 24th, 2022 due to a high transmission level of COVID-19 cases in Athens-Clarke County in January of 2022.