The crunch of boots on gravel broke the silence between shouts of “Good morning! Outreach!” as a group of six volunteers approached a homeless camp in Oklahoma City. 

The volunteers were up before the sun to survey the city’s unhoused population for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Point-in-Time count. The housing department requires the count to be conducted every other year to receive federal funding, but Oklahoma City conducts a count annually around the last week of January. 

Over 100 volunteers dispersed in vans to different zones across the city. They spent the morning visiting known camps and folks on the street, handing out bags with hand warmers and bus tickets as they went. Some pushed through brush and barbed wire to include as many as possible in the count. In the dark of the morning, they shined their flashlights into abandoned buildings and clusters of trees. 

“Hello! Is anyone there?” a volunteer called out. 

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No response can sometimes be a good thing. Hopefully, the people at the camp just a few days prior were inside somewhere warm, said Meghan Mueller, CEO of the Oklahoma City nonprofit Homeless Alliance and one of the count volunteers. Temperatures had already dipped into the single digits that week, with sparse snow dusting the city. Two nights before the count, the Alliance’s 300-bed shelter housed 380 people. 

Homelessness is rising both nationally and locally. This year’s count found 1,882 people experiencing homelessness in Oklahoma City, up 2.4% from 2024, according to numbers released Tuesday. That’s an improvement from the 28% increase in homelessness the city saw last year. But homelessness has still increased almost 20% since 2020. 

Twenty-two percent of those counted this year were sleeping outdoors, with 87% saying they became homeless in Oklahoma. The count takes place during winter when people are more likely to stay in a shelter to escape the cold, making it easier for volunteers to locate them for the count.

While the report highlighted positive trends of reduced homelessness among some groups, service providers said more work is needed to see an overall decline in Oklahoma City. 

“Despite significant deceleration in homelessness, we continue to have more people entering homelessness than exiting to housing each year,” the report found.

Those counted and those not

This year’s Point-in-Time count saw an increase in the number of families and adults over the age of 65 experiencing homelessness in Oklahoma City by nearly 13% and 35% respectively. Homelessness is a lagging indicator of a community’s economic well-being, Mueller said. The increase in homelessness is a symptom of the financial hardship experienced during the pandemic and the recent end of assistance programs from that era. 

Inflation and rising housing costs have forced some families to choose between paying rent or putting food on the table, Mueller said. Many seniors are living on a fixed income, and have been hard-hit by rising prices. 

People who were sleeping outdoors reported financial reasons, job loss and eviction as common catalysts into homelessness, according to the Point-in-Time report. 

“I think more people than we know are kind of living on that edge” of homelessness, Mueller said.

The Point-in-Time count includes only people who are classified as homeless by the federal housing department’s definition — those sleeping outdoors, in a shelter or transitional housing. Others often go uncounted.

While this year’s report shows a drastic decrease in homelessness among people under age 25 who are parenting children and unaccompanied youth, providers note this doesn’t necessarily reflect reality. Youth experiencing homelessness can be difficult to locate because they often try not to be seen for fear of unwanted interactions with law enforcement or the Department of Human Services. Many youth also don’t access services either because of perceived rules or because they aren’t aware the services exist. 

Volunteers counted nine youth who identified as the parent or legal guardian of one or more children present with them and 163 unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness this year, most between the ages of 18 and 24. Twelve of the unaccompanied youth were unsheltered. 

But Oklahoma City Public Schools identify more than 2,000 homeless youth in the school system each year, according to the Point-in-Time report.

Gregory Shannon-O’Shea, the senior director of operations at the Oklahoma City youth shelter Pivot, said it’s important to understand the Point in Time Count is a snapshot, not the full picture. 

“A point in time is one night. So the 364 other nights there are other youth,” Shannon-O’Shea said. “Just because they weren’t identified on that one night does not mean they aren’t out there.” 

On the night before the count, emergency shelters at Pivot and Sisu, another youth shelter in the city, were either at or well beyond capacity, according to the report. Shannon-O’Shea said the number of youth seeking services at Pivot only continues to increase. Currently, there’s over 300 youth on the waitlist for one of Pivot’s 41 tiny homes. 

How the Point-in-Time count is used

In addition to counting the city’s unhoused population, providers say the Point-in-Time count provides an opportunity for volunteers to speak directly with those experiencing homelessness, which helps providers craft future initiatives and identify ways that resources can be better directed.

Of the 421 people surveyed who were living outdoors on the day of the count, nearly half were experiencing homelessness for the first time. Service providers say this demonstrates the need for more interventions focused on catching people before they fall into homelessness. 

The Oklahoma City partnership organization Key to Home, which facilitated the count this year, plans to launch a pilot project in the coming months aimed at preventing people from entering homelessness. The program will connect people with a diversion specialist who will help them identify ways to maintain or secure housing, such as securing a one-time payment for utilities or car repairs, according to Jamie Caves, the Key to Home homeless strategy implementation manager. 

In previous years, the number of people experiencing chronic and unsheltered homelessness has either stagnated or increased, highlighting a need for additional rehousing efforts. The Key to Home Encampment Rehousing Initiative was launched in 2023 to chip away at this issue by providing additional avenues for individuals to exit homelessness and secure permanent housing. So far, the initiative has helped house 354 individuals, according to a Key to Home spokesperson.

Caves said the 43% decrease in the number of individuals experiencing chronic and unsheltered homelessness seen over the past two years is evidence these rehousing efforts are working.

More than a number

During the point in time count, those who consent to be surveyed answer questions about their identity, health and experience with homelessness. Volunteers also ask where they slept the night before.

Two people said they had stayed at a friend’s apartment. Another motioned to the concrete sidewalk where he sat, “Right here.” 

The man is a veteran who’s experienced homelessness for nearly two years, he told the volunteers. 

Another person surveyed said he became homeless after he lost his job and was evicted from his Oklahoma City apartment. A volunteer handed him a paper with information on how he could work for the Curbside Chronicle, a nonprofit magazine that provides jobs for people experiencing homelessness.

The count is an opportunity to gather data on the city’s unhoused population and get an idea of what services are needed and where. But for the service providers and volunteers, it’s also a reminder of why they do this work.

“It’s so important to remember that while we’re looking at numbers on a page, we’re talking about people,” Mueller said. “We’re talking about human beings.”