Coalition for the Homeless mobilizes volunteers for 2026 Harris County PIT count

The Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County (CFTH) is leading the 2026 Point-in-Time (PIT) count and survey, a coordinated three-day effort that runs Feb 24-26 and is underway across Houston and Harris County as of Feb 25. CFTH organized volunteer teams to locate and survey people experiencing homelessness during the scheduled sweep.

CFTH announced the mobilization on Feb 23 to prepare volunteers for the Feb 24-26 count. Volunteers from the coalition were dispatched to neighborhoods, public spaces and county jurisdictions within Houston and Harris County to collect PIT survey responses and record locations where people experiencing homelessness were found.

The PIT count is a combined count and survey operation; CFTH’s teams are both counting individuals and administering survey questions to document conditions faced by people experiencing homelessness in Harris County. The three-day schedule means data collection is concentrated on the single-night period spanning Feb 24 through Feb 26 to capture a snapshot of homelessness across the county.

Volunteers worked under CFTH coordination to cover the geographic scope of Houston and Harris County during the Feb 24-26 window. The coalition’s efforts focus on locating and surveying people living unsheltered as well as encounters near service providers and public areas in the county, with field teams operating throughout the designated three-day effort.

The 2026 PIT count and survey led by CFTH will conclude Feb 26 when the coalition’s volunteer teams finish their final outreach shifts across Houston and Harris County. The coordinated effort from Feb 24-26 represents CFTH’s primary data collection action for this year’s Point-in-Time snapshot of homelessness in Harris County.