Homeward Point-In-Time Study 2024

On May 17th Homeward, a Polk County homelessness planning organization, released the results of the 2024 Point-In-Time (PIT) Count survey. The survey works as a snapshot of individuals who are experiencing homelessness over the course of a single night. The January 25th survey recorded a record number of 715 people experiencing homelessness in Polk County, an 11% increase from last year when the PIT count was 644.

The survey is conducted over 24 hours, where staffers and volunteers conducted brief conversational surveys with the homeless residents of Polk County. The study also noted that the current homeless system is at almost 100% capacity with almost all of the communities combined 1394 total units being occupied, another record high compared to previous years.

Importantly the study noted that 84% of those survey were from Polk County, 12% from other Iowa counties, and the remaining 4.5% from out of state. It also noted that youth homelessness was decreasing, but there was the highest total number of people fleeing domestic violence in the past six years. Black residents are over represented at 22% of those surveyed, compared to the fact that Black/African American comprise only 8.9% of Polk County’s total residents.

These findings were verified by the Institute for Community Alliances (ICA). To read the report yourself visit here, or to read a more extensive Unsheltered Des Moines Study from 2022 you can read a summary here or the full study here.