The Department of Commerce (Commerce) must annually conduct a homeless census that counts all homeless individuals in coordination with existing homeless census projects, including those funded by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  Every year HUD requires communities across the nation to collect data on their homeless populations and to report the data to HUD.  The data collection process is referred to as the Point-In-Time (PIT) count and is collected as a means to estimate the number of sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals in the United States.  Commerce provides survey forms for counties and agencies to use for their PIT counts, but counties can opt to use their own forms as long as they comply with state guidelines.  Any data on subpopulations and other characteristics of the homeless must, at a minimum, be consistent with HUD requirements.

The state's annual homeless census must make every effort to count persons who are admitted into hospitals or incarcerated in local jails and had no permanent address before entering such facilities.  Any data or information collected during the annual homeless census about persons who are admitted into hospitals or incarcerated in local jails and had no permanent address before entering such facilities is not required to be reported to HUD.

PRO:  Washington State has spent billions of dollars during the past decade to attempt to reduce homelessness, with the problem only getting worse with the unsheltered population.  Washington State is now only second to California in the reported number of unsheltered persons.  Homeless census numbers are greatly understated as homeless persons in jail or hospitals are not counted except for in one county in Washington, where one in four unsheltered homeless are in jail or a hospital.  A supplemental count may be available but the goal is to document all unsheltered homeless.