PHILADELPHIA — The Point-In-Time (PIT) Count, which the Office of Homeless Services (OHS) and Philadelphia Continuum of Care (CoC) conducted on February 25, 2026, found there were 5,163 individuals experiencing homelessness in the city. This represents a nearly 7 percent decline from last year, when 5,516 people were experiencing homelessness.
Volunteers, nonprofits, and City staff members participated in the federally required PIT Count of people living sheltered and unsheltered throughout Philadelphia on a single night.
Among those experiencing homelessness, 711 people who were living unsheltered were counted, meaning living or sleeping outside or at a location considered not habitable for humans. This unsheltered count represents a 39 percent decrease over 2025, when 1,178 were living unsheltered. The decline marks the first decrease in unsheltered homelessness in two years and represents one of the largest year-over-year improvements recorded in recent years.
This year, 4,452 people were experiencing sheltered homelessness — living in emergency shelter, transitional housing, or Safe Haven sites — a slightly more than a 2 percent increase over last year’s count of 4,338.
The PIT Count provides essential data about homelessness trends that help guide local policy, funding, and resources. The data volunteers collect annually on a single night include basic demographic information such as age, sex, race, and ethnicity. This information is critical for determining needed resources, planning strategies to strengthen the Philadelphia homeless response system, and designing programs and initiatives to meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness. The full 2026 report, including all collected data and breakdowns, will be available later this summer.
Prior to the February 2026, Philadelphia’s annual PIT Count showed a consistent rise in the number of people living and sleeping on the city’s streets since 2023, even during the coldest winter months when PIT Count occurs. The annual census includes all individuals and families in emergency shelters, transitional housing, safe havens and those who are unsheltered.
“Our efforts are focused on improving the quality of life for all of us — not just people experiencing unsheltered homelessness — because we all count,” said Cheryl Hill, Executive Director, Office of Homeless Services. “Thanks to Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s visionary plan and commitment to end street homelessness, the City is now decreasing the number of people living unsheltered.”
Since taking office in January 2024, Mayor Parker has prioritized reducing street homelessness through expanded shelter capacity, increased outreach, stronger partnerships, and investments that connect people experiencing homelessness with services and permanent housing.
In December 2025, the mayor signed her One Philly Response to End Street Homelessness Executive Order (EO). It included a plan to boost the City’s approximately 2,700 shelter bed inventories by an additional 1,000 beds. The EO further called for the City to leverage public-private partnerships as it works to achieve this shelter bed expansion goal.
Mayor Parker’s EO followed the Warming Center Initiative she created in January 2025, which established a Citywide response to Code Blue declarations. It included opening City recreation centers and libraries to serve as warming centers and increasing street outreach efforts.
“Everyone deserves a clean, safe place where they can live with pride and dignity, including our most vulnerable residents,” said Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker. “These executive orders are a clear demonstration of my commitment to ending what I know we all see: our fellow Philadelphians living and sleeping outside on city sidewalks, park benches, under overpasses, underground in our subway stations, or anywhere else that is not fit for human habitation. By working together with public and private partners, we’ll be able to provide expanded emergency and temporary shelter with effective supportive services, along with pathways to affordable permanent housing for all.”
In March 2026, OHS celebrated the grand opening of HOPE 220: An Office of Homeless Services Solution Center. It adds more than 70 beds in a safe, comfortable, dignified, homelike setting, along with wraparound services including free primary health care provided by Jefferson Health, behavioral health case management, and direct access to permanent housing placement options.
The agency has opened two more OHS Solution Centers. Further, beds at more than a dozen shelters that OHS had previously reserved solely for winter use are now designated for year-round availability — soon totaling 1,000 more beds within the shelter system.
The City has also implemented other strategic tactics to end street homelessness, including launching with lead partner, Project Home, the “One Philly Ambassadors of Hope” homeless street outreach team in Center City and Old City and expanding hours of operation and meals at its daytime drop-in center, the Hub of Hope. In addition to these efforts, OHS added another Encampment Resolution Team (ERT) through its partners Urban Affairs Coalition and One Day at a Time. Throughout the week, partnering with the City’s Homeless Street Outreach, the ERT visits outdoor locations across Philadelphia where people have been living to offer them shelter and homelessness-related services. Philadelphia Department of Sanitation and Community Life Improvement Program (CLIP) teams also join the ERT to contribute to the clean-up process.
“The PIT Count results are encouraging but they still demonstrate the need for continued work to expand shelter, outreach, behavioral health services, and affordable housing so every Philadelphian has access to safe, stable places to live,” said Hill.
About The Office of Homeless Services
The mission of the Office of Homeless Services (OHS) is to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring. OHS works with more than 70 homeless housing and service providers, as well as city, state, and federal governments. This system provides homelessness prevention and diversion aid, along with emergency and temporary housing, to people who are experiencing homelessness and those at risk of homelessness.