This page provides documentation for the Point-in-Time (PIT) Count Survey dashboard and Point-in-Time Count Youth Survey Dashboard. Documentation includes the purpose, data source, reporting frequency, and key terms.
Purpose
These dashboards analyze data from the survey conducted during the 2026 PIT Count with comparison to previous years’ responses to similar questions asked in the four previous PIT surveys. The user can explore data for survey questions in both the general PIT survey and the youth supplemental survey over time and can filter data by chronicity.
Data Source
Communities receiving federal funding for homelessness services conduct a Point-in-Time (PIT) Count of people experiencing homelessness. The PIT Count is the primary source of nationwide data on homelessness. Following the sheltered and unsheltered count, and in partnership with outreach organizations and peer surveyors, the city and county of San Francisco conducts an in-person interview of sheltered and unsheltered individuals. The survey is developed and adjusted over time with guidance from HUD.
Data from the survey is used to infer the Point-in-Time Count estimates for the unsheltered count, and inform homelessness initiatives. For more information about survey methodology or the questions asked, see Appendix A of the 2026 PIT report.
Reporting Frequency
This dashboard shows PIT data from the most recent PIT survey as of 2026 and will be updated following the next PIT survey in 2028.
Data Notes
- Data in this dashboard extends to the surveys from 2017 to 2026. The data below shows the number of unique respondents recorded each year.
| Year | # of Respondents | # of Youth Respondents |
|---|---|---|
2017 | 1,104 | 201 |
2019 | 1,054 | 180 |
2022 | 768 | 129 |
2024 | 956 | 121 |
2026 | 1,674 | 103 |
- Data can be viewed over time for a specific question. Surveys in different years may have used slightly different wording for questions or response options. Unless otherwise specified in the dashboard, these differences are considered insignificant when comparing responses between years.
- All questions in the survey are optional, so the number of respondents to any particular question varies. Unless otherwise specified, respondents who selected a response option that represents incomplete data, such as “Don’t know,” are excluded along with those that skipped the question.
- Some questions in the survey were left out of the dashboard due to a low response rate and concerns around anonymity.
- Response options in the dashboard for the following questions reflect recoding of more detailed response options or open-ended numeric responses into defined categories.
- Respondent age group (2022 and later)
- Which of these options best describes your sexual orientation?
- Where are you sleeping? (asked for the night of that year's PIT count)
- How long have you been homeless this time? Only include time you spent staying in shelters and/or on the streets.
- In the last 12 months, how many times have you been homeless including this current time?
- How many different times have you been homeless in the past 3 years, including this current time?
- How long did you stay in shelters, on the streets, or in a car over the past 3 years? (Asked as how many months)
- How old were you the first time you experienced homelessness?
- Where were you housed when you last became homeless?
- How long were you housed in San Francisco before becoming homeless most recently? (Only asked of people who had been housed in San Francisco when they last became homeless)
- Do you have a substance use disorder?
- How many nights, if any, have you spent in jail or prison in the past 12 months?
- How many nights in the past 2 weeks have you stayed in the homes of friends/family? (2022 and later)
- How many times in the past 30 days has your safety been threatened?
- The 2026 update to this dashboard included some changes and corrections to previously reported data through 2024 to support comparison of results over time: Questions not asked in 2026 and all 2015 survey responses were removed from the dashboard.
- In 2026, the question, “What was the primary reason you came to San Francisco?” was only asked of people who indicated they had last become homeless outside of San Francisco. To align data from prior years, responses previously collected for this question from people who had last became homeless in San Francisco were removed.
- The definition for the “Respondent has a disabling condition” question was adjusted. See Key Terms and Acronyms for more information.
Key Terms and Acronyms
Information about HUD’s PIT reporting requirements and definition of terms, including the definition for chronically homeless, can be found at Point-in-Time Count and Housing Inventory Count - HUD Exchange.
Key terms with custom definitions for this dashboard include:
Respondent has a disabling condition based on respondents indicating they have one or more of the following conditions, regardless of the condition’s expected duration or level of functional impairment:
- Substance use disorder
- Chronic health condition
- Mental health disorder
- Physical disability
- Developmental disability
- HIV/AIDS
LGBTQ+:
- LGBTQ+: respondents who identified with a sexual orientation that is not Straight and/or a gender identity that is not singularly Man (Boy if child) or singularly Woman (Girl if child).
- Not LGBTQ+: respondents who identified their sexual orientation as Straight and their gender identity as singularly Man (Boy if child) or singularly Woman (Girl if child).
- Respondents with the following types of incomplete responses were excluded from the LGBTQ+ question:
- Identified sexual orientation as Straight but did not respond to the gender identity question
- Identified gender identity as singularly Man (Boy if child) or singularly Woman (Girl if child) but did not respond to the sexual orientation question
- Did not respond to either question
Questions?
- For general inquiries, contact hshexternalaffairs@sfgov.org
- For media inquiries, contact hshmedia@sfgov.org
- For technical issues related to this dashboard, contact hshdata@sfgov.org