Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance

The yearly event seeks to capture vital data about our homeless population and housing resources. Participation is crucial. It is a general survey of demographic and inventory information. This data leads to funding decisions. These surveys are done nationwide.

This event has a few parts.

The PIT count is a count of people experiencing homelessness on a single night.

It is the sum of:
The “Unsheltered PIT”: a count of street homeless via street outreach on the event night.
and a
“Sheltered PIT” count of homeless in shelters on the event night. This is collected from shelter managers.

As well we perform

The “HIC”:
A count of inventory on this single night. What beds and shelters were available. This is collected from shelter managers, and goes beyond HMIS

The HIC also asks shelter managers about how many homeless are in shelter on the event night. This should match the sheltered PIT.

For all of these, Information about the night may be gathered and submitted over the following week.

CMHA Sends out surveys for all of these. We rely on volunteerism and survey responses from community partners, particularly those with knowledge of available beds.

We rely on your responses to inform HUD of the reality of homelessness.

Unsheltered PIT count – Open to volunteers and homeless individuals

This census is an attempted count of all the homeless in our county.

We are seeking street outreach professionals and volunteers to conduct PIT surveys. We would like to have a surveyor-team stop by each town in the county.

For safety, we ask that only approved volunteers participate under the discretion of street outreach professionals.

We are open to tips from the public.

Do not wake people in their car. Count generally how many adults/children/vehicles if possible.

Do not seek to count people who do not want to be counted.

Take general note of the locations of large-scale encampments. Do not capture exact locations.

We collect unsheltered surveys for the 7 days following the count night. For the 7 days following the count, ask clients where they slept on the count night. If they were unsheltered on the night, please conduct an unsheltered PIT survey.

New in 2026 the MA-506 PIT team is offering an optional extended PIT survey:

Optional Extended PIT Informational Form – Fill out form

This is for homeless individuals to share more of their story and perspective on the system. We may not be able to respond to all messages, but we intend to share general sentiments and specific messages with local leadership.

Sheltered PIT count – Shelter associated staff

We ask that staff or volunteers of places housing homeless individuals on the night of the count:

Conduct Unsheltered PIT count surveys for each person at the shelter on the night of the count.

Ensure HMIS attendance data is up to date for the count night.

All Emergency Shelter, Transitional Housing, and Safe Haven-type projects should be included. This includes hotel shelters, blue shelters, or warming centers that are open on the count night and provide beds or cots for people to sleep in.

HIC Count – Shelter associated staff

We must count available inventory, IE beds and units for the night of the count.

We must count the types of beds and units available.

Cribs and pack-and-plays should not be counted.

Program types that should be included in the HIC count include Emergency Shelters, Transitional Housing, Safe Haven, Permanent Supportive Housing, Other Permanent Housing, and Rapid Re-Housing (only count RRH beds occupied by clients who have been placed in their permanent housing).

Non-dedicated beds are for anyone. Dedicated beds are for special populations (Youth, Vets, etc). Dedicated beds should be counted as part of the total number of beds, and separately in their respective sections.

There will also be a question on how many persons were in the shelter on the night of the count.

If your project was also included in the sheltered PIT count, your total PIT count number must match the PIT count question in the HIC count.

6 Institute Road
Worcester, MA 01609 > Map it

phone: (508) 752-5519
info@cmhaonline.org

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