The Community Shelter Board is conducting its annual Point-in-Time count on Thursday to evaluate the extent of homelessness in Columbus and Franklin County.
The count is an effort to document the number of individuals and families experiencing homelessness, and is conducted in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Volunteers ventured out for a land count from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. Thursday. The volunteers continued to do an unsheltered count throughout the day, visiting places where unhoused individuals are known to congregate.
Official survey results are expected to be released in April, said Steve Skovensky, chief system effectiveness officer with the Community Shelter Board.
Last year’s community survey found 2,556 people experiencing homelessness in Columbus and Franklin County, a 7.4% increase from the previous year. However, the numbers of people experiencing homelessness with severe mental illness, domestic abuse survivors experiencing homelessness, unsheltered homelessness and chronic homelessness all saw decreases.
Skovensy said the modeling predicts an increase in homelessness due to external factors.
“The key drivers of homelessness are rising rents and lowering vacancy rates,” Skovensy said. “And that's really two numbers that are very high in central Ohio.”
The board is hoping strategies like offering winter warming centers and non-traditional shelter options can combat this increase, Skovensy said.
Additionally, the unsheltered count helps outreach teams narrow down their target areas.
“The count helps cultivate strategy,” Skovensky said. “Do we need to put more money and more resources into specific rapid rehousing programs? And then also we've begun to lower family homelessness, so are those strategies working as well? So those numbers can give us an indicator.”
In November 2025, the City of Columbus passed a $500 million bond to go toward neighborhood development and affordable housing, which Skovensy said the Community Shelter Board is “very excited” about.
“We certainly partner and support the city with any deeply affordable housing efforts,” Skovensy said. “We wanna be an advocate, but we also want to be a housing developer, whether that's partnering with other developers or creating new partnerships. So, we're very interested in all opportunities to advance the need for deeply affordable housing. Certainly appreciate the steps that the city and the county are taking to address the issue.”
