As a part of a federally required annual count of the homeless population in Indianapolis, about 70 volunteers departed from Horizon House’s east-side location to pinpointed areas across the city Wednesday evening.

The event, called the point-in-time count, is a tally of the homeless population required by U.S. housing officials to help determine federal funding amounts tied to housing and homelessness. Coalitions of service providers in states and municipalities must conduct the count during a night within the third week of January.

Volunteers departed from the home base at Horizon House, 1033 E. Washington St., to more than 300 locations where homeless individuals are likely to spend the night. Outreach workers spend months before the count identifying the spots that ultimately become part of the plan, such as locations where homeless individuals are living in cars, encampments and parks. 

Along with collecting data, the volunteers who partake in the count hand out resources such as warm clothes and bus passes.

Although the city is experiencing a cold snap—with temperatures in the teens Wednesday night—the count was set to go on as scheduled.

Niki Wattson, the Horizon House street outreach manager and coordinator of the Professional Blended Street Outreach Team, said a warming center at Washington Park Family Center was set to close at 8 p.m. To count the people staying in that location, Wattson said a team would head there before it shut down.

She gave the volunteers last-minute instructions. Among them: call your team leader every hour to ensure you’re safe; don’t go somewhere if it feels unsafe and follow the lead of the most cautious person on your team; remember that officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and the Mobile Crisis Assistance Team are on hand in case of an emergency.

Although they begin at dusk, the counts have been known to last until midnight.

The night-time count is just the first step in the process. Through a methodology implemented two years ago, over the next few days additional community volunteers will conduct the same unsheltered survey at day centers, service centers and other service locations working with residents experiencing homelessness. Those volunteers will ask: “Where did you stay the night of Wednesday, Jan. 22?” in order to get a better picture of Indianapolis’ homeless population.

The results of the point-in-time count aren’t typically announced until summer. Those results include demographic details including age, race and gender, as well as details on families and those who are chronically homeless. The 2024 count found 1,701 individuals experiencing homelessness in Indianapolis on Jan. 24—a 5% increase over the previous year and the first increase since 2021.

Nationally, the 2024 count found the largest rise in the homeless population since 2007.

Chelsea Haring-Cozzi, executive director of the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention, said the count provides a starting point for determining local policy and possible solutions.

“The pit doesn’t necessarily tell us why we’re seeing what we’re seeing, but it absolutely points us to the things we need to dig deeper into and pay more attention to as we target interventions and resources,” Haring-Cozzi said.