People experience housing crises and move in and out of homelessness on an ongoing basis. Many are also able to resolve the problem through their own connections and support systems. Since the number of people experiencing homelessness is constantly changing, we rely on various sources of data to determine how many people are homeless in Virginia Beach and to understand gaps in our community and how well we are meeting these needs.
Key Sources of Data
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires cities that receive federal funding for homeless programs to conduct an unduplicated count of the homeless population, known as the Point-in-Time (PIT) Count. The count helps determine how much funding a community will receive for homeless programs and services and provides demographic information about a city's homeless population. Each year, approximately $2 million is granted through the Continuum of Care to Virginia Beach agencies that provide housing and supportive services to the homeless.
The PIT Count is usually conducted at the end of January and provides a snapshot of the number of people who were experiencing homelessness during a 24-hour period. Typically, the City's Homeless Services staff lead volunteers to canvass the city and survey people who are without shelter. Information collected includes, but is not limited to: name, age, gender, and length of homelessness. Shelter and transitional housing providers also provide client data for the same day.
The PIT Count is not only a chance to learn how many people are homeless and where they are located, but also information about how they became homeless and what services they need to help them. The more we know about our homeless population, the better we can serve their needs. With successive counts, we can also measure our progress.
During the 2023 PIT Count, a total of 313 persons were identified as experiencing homelessness.
The next PIT Count is scheduled for Jan. 25, 2024.
The federal homeless definition for Project Hope is broader and includes all students who did not have a regular, permanent place to stay during the school year.
For the 2020-2021 school year, Project Hope identified a total of 623 unduplicated students.
The Housing Inventory Count (HIC) shows the total number of beds in the Virginia Beach Continuum of Care (CoC) and sorts each bed according to project type -- permanent supportive housing (PSH), Rapid Re-Housing (RRH), other permanent housing (OPH), emergency shelter (ES), and transitional housing (TH). The report identifies the community partners that operate these programs and and provides a demographic breakdown of households served. It also shows the number of beds that were occupied during the Point-in-Time Count.