Point in Time Count

Point in Time Count of Cape and Islands Homeless

The annual Point in Time Count of the Cape and Islands homeless is required by the Continuum of Care (CoC) Grant Program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. The Cape and Islands Regional Network on Homelessness conducts the annual Point in Time Count that counts the number of people experiencing homelessness in emergency shelters, transitional housing, on the street, in cars, abandoned buildings, and in other places not meant for human habitation. Counts are conducted annually in every community and do not count households living in motels nor those that are doubled-up and living with family and friends.

2021 Annual Point in Time Results

The Cape and Islands Regional Network on Homelessness 2021 findings from the Annual Point in Time Count, which took place on January 26, 2021, on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket, indicate that the total number of homeless persons (adults and children, sheltered and unsheltered) on the night of the 2021 count was 343, an increase of 6 persons from last year. The availability of COVID funding and additional Emergency Solutions Grant funding this year undoubtedly contributed to the number of unsheltered persons decreasing significantly from 2020 to 2021 (from 50 to 28), with the most dramatic reduction being observed among individual unsheltered Males (from 37 to 14). Concurrently, the number of individuals staying in Emergency Shelter increased by almost the same margin (from 73 to 94). Barnstable County experienced an overall 53% decrease in unsheltered homelessness (from 32 to 15) and Dukes County experienced an overall 56% decrease in unsheltered homelessness (from 14 to 9).