Atlanta City Council voted unanimously this week to launch a summer Point In Time count starting in 2025.

Typically, Atlanta completes a so called “PIT Count” of all unhoused people each year at the end of January and publishes the data in the summer. Starting in 2025, every odd year the count will take place in the summer and results will be published within 90 days.

Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari said winter data is vulnerable to undercounting.

“We should be doing a summer count," she said. ”It's when the numbers are higher. It's when we know numbers are more accurate, where people are not hiding and trying to find refuge from the cold. It gives us more of an accurate understanding.”

January data showed a 7% increase in homelessness in the city. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development only requires a count every two years, but the Atlanta Continuum of Care has enough funding to complete a count annually.

Bakhtiari said a summer count will help the city allocate funding and resources in a more targeted way to address homelessness.

“It worsens the miseducation around how to tackle homelessness when people see money being poured into it and they don't see things improving, she said. “That only creates a bigger culture divide, that creates a bigger obstacle to ending homelessness.”

The measure now heads to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens desk to be signed.

Tags: Homeless  housing insecurity  Atlanta  Georgia