The Point-in-Time Count (PIT Count) is federally mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for all communities receiving federal funds through the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants Program. The PIT Count takes an annual, unduplicated census of people experiencing homelessness on a one night in the last 10 days of January.
Given its limitations, the PIT Count should not be viewed as an exact number. It is a useful tool that can be used to estimate characteristics of the City of Atlanta population of people experiencing homelessness and gauge changes over time.