Minnesota's HMIS

The Point-in-Time Count (PIT)

The Point-in-Time Count

What is the Point-in-Time Count?

The Point-in-Time Count, or “PIT”, is an annual count of all persons experiencing homelessness on a single night. The PIT takes place nationwide, and is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Together, the PIT and the Housing Inventory Count enable communities to identify potential gaps in service delivery and inform decisions around policies and funding.

During the PIT Count there is a large-scale community-wide effort to identify folks experiencing homelessness that may not otherwise be counted, namely those that are unsheltered, or living on the street or in a place not meant for habitation (such as a car or abandoned building). In Minnesota, we also count those that are doubled up (which means they are “couch hopping” or temporarily staying with family or friends).

The PIT illuminates the impact we as a community are having on reducing and ending homelessness (similar to a census). While it isn’t feasible to count every single person experiencing homelessness every day, counting on the same set of days each year provides a snapshot for comparison over time. Consistent questions asked every year across the state help us examine trends, watch for changes, and help better understand how to target resources.

Here are some ways PIT data is used:

  • At a national level by HUD and other agencies that fund Homeless Services initiatives

  • At the state level to inform Minnesota’s statewide plan to prevent and end homelessness

  • By regions (each known as a Continuum of Care) and individual agencies to make plans for addressing homelessness

  • By the media and by research groups

Want more information about the PIT? Check out our Knowledge Base article, “What is the Point-in-Time Count?“

 

What’s ICA’s Role?

As the State System Administrator for HMIS in Minnesota, ICA is integrally involved with the PIT.  We provide resources, develop tools to collect the data, guide the statewide process, and work in coordination with local partners in each Continuum of Care to ensure the count is a smooth process for all involved AND that the numbers that result from the surveys are aggregated and submitted to HUD.

As HMIS Lead Agency

  • Support HMIS participating projects in entering data completely, accurately, and in a timely fashion.
  • Act as caretaker of the HMIS, ensuring that the database is properly set up and maintained.
  • Assist agencies with performing data quality reviews.
  • Liaise with the HMIS software vendor.
  • Ensure CoCs understand the year-to-year implications of changes to reports.
  • Equip CoCs and agencies with resources to facilitate the updating of project provider details.
  • Support the Homelessness Data Exchange (HDX) submission process.
  • Help expose patterns in data that drive decisions.

As Research Partner & Technical Assistance Provider

  • Maintain a suite of data collection and review resources:
    • Paper PIT survey
    • Online PIT survey
    • Aggregate data collection tool
    • Non-HMIS PIT data review tool
  • Summarize expansive PIT data.
  • Produce PIT summary data tables.
  • Lightly support non-HMIS data review.
  • Provide a Minnesota Tribal Collaborative and by-county analysis of PIT results.

What’s My Role?

I volunteered to help an agency survey people experiencing homelessness

For information about your area's local process, including which materials will be used in the PIT Count, reach out to your CoC Coordinator or PIT Lead. You will likely attend a local training to learn the canvassing approach in your area, rehearse the survey questions a few times, then be on your way to conduct surveys. Volunteers commonly use the PIT paper survey, which is subsequently entered into PIT LIVE (a web-based data entry tool). With preparatory training and a reliable Internet connection, you may instead use PIT LIVE directly.

My agency participates in HMIS

If your agency operates an Emergency Shelter, Transitional Housing, or Safe Haven program that participates in HMIS, your job is to enter complete and accurate data into HMIS like you usually do! Finish your data entry for PIT night as quickly as possible, and watch for communications from ICA requesting targeted data corrections.

Please note that you should not use PIT LIVE. Your agency's data will instead be pulled from HMIS.

My agency operates an Emergency Shelter or Transitional Housing program, but we don't enter data into HMIS

Thank you for your participation! By taking part in this one-night count of those experiencing homelessness in our communities, you help us understand the characteristics of those served by your agency. You should be in contact with your CoC Coordinator or PIT Lead for instructions. You may participate in the PIT by submitting aggregate data about those who were in your program on that night to the CoC Coordinator or completing paper surveys or PIT LIVE. If you will be taking the latter approach, please prepare by reading the surveyor instruction guide carefully.

I'm a CoC Coordinator or local PIT Lead

We appreciate the work that CoC Coordinators and PIT Leads do to provide the planning, training, and coordination that help to make Minnesota's PIT Count a success! Before the count begins, CoC Coordinators will offer guidance on the CoC's PIT plan and on survey collection to PIT Leads and agencies. ICA also relies on CoC Coordinators to be in communication with any service providers in their regions that do not use HMIS to discuss how they will participate in the PIT Count. PIT Leads: You'll help to organize your community's PIT plan, coordinate communication with agencies and surveyors in your community, and administer surveyor and volunteer training.

After the count concludes, CoC Coordinators and PIT Leads will help to collect and submit completed surveys, and work on data review and corrections in conjunction with ICA and agencies.

I work at a school that is helping with the PIT Count

Schools are important partners in the PIT Count. As a school liaison, you may participate in the count directly or - in collaboration with your local CoC Coordinator - you may promote the count among those you serve. At a statewide level, the focus for school-based participation in the PIT is only on individuals and families who meet HUD's homeless definition. We recognize that this does not capture the entirety of student homelessness. PIT planning teams will issue further guidance, so please defer to your local CoC Coordinator or PIT Lead for further instructions.

 

non-HMIS Agencies Collecting Aggregate PIT Data

Other Materials

Data from Past Counts

ICA Resources

 

HUD Exchange Resources

PIT and HIC Data Since 2007
”These raw data sets contain Point-in-Time (PIT) estimates of homelessness by Continuum of Care (CoC) geographic service area and by state as well as estimates of chronic homelessness since 2007. Estimates of homeless veterans are included beginning in 2011. The accompanying Housing Inventory Count (HIC) data by CoC and state are available as well, along with the project-level HIC file for the current year.”