Annually on the last Wednesday of January, Lane County Human Services Division, in partnership with numerous agencies and groups, conducts the annual one-night county-wide Point-in-Time (PIT) Count. As a known undercount, the PIT Count is most valuable to track trends among the number of people who are experiencing homelessness in the region, including those who are unsheltered and sheltered. The PIT Count is comprised of surveys, coupled with data from the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) collected when people who are unhoused engage for assistance. The 2025 PIT Count was conducted the night of January 29, 2025.

The Point-In-Time Count (PIT) is a useful tool for understanding year-over-year trends among those who are unhoused in Lane County. PIT Counts are required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Oregon Housing and Community Services, which provides funding for outreach, shelters, housing and supportive services related to homelessness. The PIT Count data and trends are used year-round by planning boards, nonprofits, community organizations, and policy makers on local, state, and federal levels to inform their work on this issue.

Trends

The number of people who are unhoused in Lane County continues to grow. This was particularly apparent during the very cold 2025 PIT Count night where nearly 500 cold weather shelter beds were provided with a focus on saving lives. As a result, many people who may not have typically sought out shelter may have accessed shelter because there were additional shelter beds to be found and transportation was available to and from the facilities. This reality created the opportunity to more accurately count the number of people who are unhoused across the region and was the primary driver for the PIT Count increase.

While each household likely had a different path to homelessness, the increase in homelessness can be directly attributed to the scarcity of housing in the region, particularly for those with low incomes. Based on the PIT Count only 35 percent of those counted were also counted in 2024 and only an additional 15 percent (50 percent total) were counted in the last five counts (2020–2024). This is similar to the local 2024 By Name List, which indicates 5,161 households moved into homelessness throughout the year, joining 5,704 people who were already unhoused in the region. With the assistance of supportive housing programs, housing navigators, diversion assistance and self-determination, 5,160 of those households exited the homeless services system.

In the cities of Springfield and Eugene, 33,210 units of housing are needed in the next 20 years to accommodate the current and predicted population of people who are housed and unhoused in the community. Coupled with Eugene/Springfield regional rental vacancy rates of 3.5 percent, currently the lowest in Oregon among large metropolitan areas, identifying new housing is a challenge for anyone. This is especially true for those who face steeper challenges to obtaining housing, like no or poor credit, conviction histories, criminal justice involvement and/or low incomes. Those with housing challenges face far fewer housing options and higher move-in costs.

In alignment with the January 10, 2023, Governor’s Executive Order Due to the Crisis of Homelessness, from January 10, 2024, through May 12, 2025, Lane County in partnership with a robust group of service providers supported 650 households to transition from homelessness to permanent housing. This includes providing street outreach, short-term supports like help with move-in costs, or long-term supports like rent assistance and case management. In addition, 787 households were prevented from falling into homelessness through the payment of rent arrears and supportive services.

Key Takeaways of the Count

The night of January 29, 2025:

• 3,509 were experiencing homelessness in Lane County. Based on previous PIT Counts, this is a 14 percent (3,085 people) increase from 2024 and a 24 percent (2,824 people) increase from the 2023 count.

   

• 52 percent more people were sheltered and slightly fewer were unsheltered than during the 2024 count. The majority of the increase is a result of 495 additional cold weather shelter beds being available due to the extremely cold temperature. The beds include the St. Vincent DePaul Egan severe weather sites and Catholic Community Services motel vouchers for families.

   

• 209 people were provided alternative shelter accommodations. This means an individual slept in a program that provided a roof over their head but that did not meet the technical definition of “emergency shelter.” These are mostly safe parking locations and sites that do not provide electricity and/or heat to individual units.

Of the 3,509 people counted during one night:

• 914 individuals were staying in formal Emergency Shelters.

   

  • The number of Emergency Shelter beds remained similar to last year thanks in part to the Governor’s continuation of the Executive Order funding, having created 304 additional emergency shelter beds in 2024.

   

• 96 individuals were living in Transitional Housing, which is a program that offers temporary housing (up to 24 months) with supportive services for individuals and families experiencing homelessness with the goal of interim stability and support to successfully move to and maintain permanent housing. Transitional Housing beds increased by 27 due to additional Veteran Affairs investments.

   

• 2,004 individuals were without formal shelter

   

  • 209 of these individuals were staying in alternative shelter programs like Rest Stops, Microsites, and sanctioned vehicle camping. While these provide much-needed safe places to sleep, they do not meet the HUD definition of emergency shelter.

   

• The percentage of individuals who are chronically homeless and sheltered increased from 2020 to 2024, from 25 percent to 46 percent. In Lane County, we are seeing people remain unhoused for a longer period of time.

   

  • There has been a greater focus across emergency and alternative shelter providers to reduce barriers to access and lower shelter requirements in order to effectively support people who are chronically homeless and have greater vulnerabilities.

Information about the Count:

The 2025 PIT unsheltered count was primarily conducted by generating a report from Lane County’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). The report, a version of Homelessness By-Name Lists utilized across the nation, was used, which identifies the number of people who are unhoused in any HMIS-participating program. The over 110 programs that enter data include emergency shelters, street outreach, day access centers, food pantries, and other services for people experiencing homelessness. This is the fifth year Lane County has been approved by HUD to use this method, which results in a more accurate count.

Recognizing there are people who do not access homeless services for many reasons, trained outreach staff collected surveys in areas where it was most likely that people who are unsheltered are not engaged in other services. Youth under 25 who are unhoused are also less apt to access mainstream supports, so many youth providers came together on January 29, and held a resource connection event. Over 30 youth were counted as a result of this event. In addition, a small number of specialized providers who do not participate in HMIS, like domestic violence service providers, sent their own anonymous sheltered counts to be included in the Point-in-Time Count.

The Homelessness By-Name List:

Each month, Lane County uses HMIS data to publish an estimate of the number of people experiencing homelessness in the county at some point during the month. The criteria for this report is more expansive than what is used for the HUD PIT Count, because it looks at all services and data collected during the month rather than on one night.