At 5:00 AM on Thursday morning, I joined San Francisco officials at a rec center near the Mission, to help conduct the biannual count of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January.
The city uses the data for a lot of things, including applying for federal funding for homeless services.
Some volunteers play basketball, while others greet each other sleepily as we wait to get our assignments.
CITY STAFF: Thank you for coming, we really appreciate it...
Normally, volunteers in San Francisco do the PIT count at night. But this year, it’s early in the early morning — which is how most other Bay Area counties do it. The hope is to make the results more accurate.
I’m assigned to a group with Salvador Menjivar, Housing Director for the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. He gathers our group, and explains where we’ll be counting.
MENJIVAR: Four, five, six, seven, eight. Great. So, as you can see that map, there are four sections within the map. Okay?
A stretch of the Mission between 21st and Cesar Chavez Streets.
MENJIVAR: So, can everybody open the app?
Another change this year: In the past, San Francisco has done demographic surveys in the weeks after the count. This year we’re doing it all at once.
MENJIVAR: The fundamental part is you’re going to decide when you see somebody if you can talk to them, or if you cannot talk to them.
We break our large area into quadrants, and set out to start counting.
In total, my group counts eight people. Most of them were sleeping, or didn’t want to talk. But near the end of our route, we found someone who was excited to take the survey.
SURVEYOR: So last night, where did you sleep?
PERSON BEING COUNTED: I didn’t, haha. I slept like an hour…
When I asked him how it feels to be included in the Point-in-Time Count, he got emotional.
REPORTER: What does it mean to you to be included in the count?
PERSON BEING COUNTED: It feels good, yeah. It does…It’s like people, care about you.
He said: Because it’s like people care about you.
Many people believe Point-in-Time is an undercount. In 2024, volunteers in San Francisco identified over 8,000 unhoused people, between the visual count and those who were living in shelters. But according to city data, the number of people who seek homeless services throughout the year is more than three times that number.
Still, officials say, the ritual is important because it informs the local, state, and national picture of who is experiencing homelessness, and what they need.
Around 7:15, the sun rose. The birds started to chirp, and kids lined up to wait for school busses.
MENJIVAR: You guys wanna go grab a cup of coffee and a little pan dulce?
The results of San Francisco’s 2026 Point-in-Time count are expected to be published in the spring.
