2025 Point-in-Time Count: Progress, Persistence, and the Work Ahead

The Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness (TPCH) has released the results of the 2025 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count—a  snapshot of homelessness in our region. Conducted annually each January, the PIT Count helps us understand how many of our neighbors are experiencing homelessness and the capacity required of the homeless response system to meet community need. This year’s effort was the most thorough yet, with over 400 dedicated community volunteers helping count people across the region—including, for the first time, in Catalina and Ajo, Arizona.

A Modest Increase Locally, Compared to a National Surge

On the night of the 2025 count, 2,218 people were identified as experiencing homelessness across Pima County—both sheltered and unsheltered. This reflects a 5.5% increase over last year’s total. However, when placed in context, this increase is far more modest than the 18% national increase in homelessness recorded in 2024.

What’s particularly noteworthy is that 100% of the increase in Pima County came from sheltered homelessness, while unsheltered homelessness remained virtually unchanged since 2024. This stability is a testament to the resilience of our local homeless response system, which has worked tirelessly to bring more people indoors and provide safer, more stable environments.

Signs of Progress

While the total number of people experiencing homelessness remains high, there are several encouraging signs that our local strategies are working:

• Since 2022, overall PIT numbers have remained relatively flat—holding the line even as other regions experience steep increases.

• Unsheltered homelessness has dropped by 23% since 2022.  Over that same period, sheltered homelessness increased by 63%, showing that the system is effectively scaling to meet demand and provide safer alternatives to the street.

• Youth homelessness among 18–24-year-olds has decreased by 32%.

These trends reflect intentional investments in increasing system capacity, outreach, and strategizing around unsheltered homelessness —investments that are saving lives and opening doors.

Persistent Challenges Demand Our Continued Commitment

Despite the progress, the 2025 PIT Count also highlights critical areas of concern:

• Racial disparities remain persistent—Black and Indigenous populations continue to be disproportionately impacted by homelessness in our community.

• Among people experiencing homelessness, there are rising numbers of individuals experiencing serious mental illness, substance use disorders, and domestic violence, highlighting the complex and interwoven crises many clients are facing.  

• While more people are being sheltered, far too many remain unsheltered, facing the daily risks of extreme weather, violence, and instability.

Moving Forward Together

The PIT Count is more than a number—it’s a call to action. It can indicate where we’re making gains and where we must do more. Our shared goal is not just to manage homelessness but to end it.

We must continue to:

• Prevent homelessness by investing in deeply affordable housing

• Expand shelter options with dignity and care

• Address the root causes of homelessness, including behavioral health needs and both economic prosperity and inequity

• Center the voices of those with lived experience in every aspect of planning and response

View the summary report of the posted here.  For media inquiries, please contact Neto Portillo at ernesto.portillo@tucsonaz.gov.  

ATTENTION ALL COORDINATED ENTRY ASSESSORS

If you are a Licensed HMIS Coordinated Entry Assessor, and have not yet done so, please complete the Coordinated Entry Skilled Assessor training on the TPCH Learning Management System (LMS). Please complete the virtual training no later than March 31, 2025.

On that date, only assessors who have completed both the HMIS Workflow and the Skilled Assessor trainings will have access to Coordinated Entry in the HMIS Database. Please register for an account on the e-Learning site at https://tpch.talentlms.com/index in order to gain access to the virtual training. If you already have an account, this training can be accessed in the “Coordinated Entry” section of the course catalogue.

The Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness (TPCH) stands in solidarity with the National Alliance to End Homelessness’ statements regarding recent Executive Orders and actions [endhomelessness.org]. We will continue to serve and acknowledge the existence of our immigrant families and our transgender and non-binary community members. These actions will increase disparities already experienced by these populations and could deter them from seeking out services. TPCH continues its ongoing commitment to serve our whole community in ending homelessness in Tucson and Pima County.

While many of the partners implementing work in TPCH are federally funded, leadership is community driven. Our work is embedded into the community and led by providers, system leaders, and most importantly, those who are impacted by housing insecurity. The work of the TPCH Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and the TPCH Lived Experience Council will continue, with equity at the center of our strategy for ending homelessness and achieving housing as a human right for all members of Pima County. 

The Southwest Institute for Research on Women has released its most recent update to its report on Housing Insecurity Indicators and Potential Homelessness Estimates for Arizona and Pima County. This report measures current housing insecurity with newer census data, and shares some of the following: 

This most recent survey wave contains mixed news: 

• • Unemployment: macroeconomic situation has continued to be unusually positive at both the national and state levels. The unemployment rate in Arizona, 3.4% in May 2024, is a modest decrease relative to 4.2% in January 2024 and remains well-below historical averages. 
  • Rents: In previous survey waves, collected in February and March of this year, the proportion of non-current renters in Arizona fell to 6.3% in February and 6.7% in March. In the two most recent waves of the Census Household Pulse survey the proportion of non-current renters in Arizona jumped to 10.7% in April and rose further to 11.8% in May. This suggests that the declines observed in February and March were most likely temporary impacts related to tax return season. Once these tax refunds have been spent, we see what appears to be a return to stubbornly high levels of housing insecurity despite historically low unemployment. 
  • Housing insecurity and evictions: That said, the proportion of these non-current renters viewing eviction in the next two months as “very likely” remained very low at 3.6%. In addition, the accumulation of rental debt has also fallen substantially with 80% of non-current Arizona renters being only 1 month behind on their rent payments (or less). These last two indicators are important qualifiers to the overall percentage of renters not-current, and do suggest that the intensity of housing insecurity, even among non-current renters, has declined substantially relative to previous survey waves. 
  • Racial disparities: That said, lower-income and BIPOC Arizona households remain disproportionately likely to report being not current on their rent payments and finding it very difficult to meet usual expenses. The National Equity Atlas estimated that 58% of non-current renters in Arizona are POC and 68% are low-income (based on the Census HPS data wave collected Apr 2nd-29th 2024).
  • Mortgages: Mortgage holders in Arizona continue to be in a strong, and improving, financial position relative to renters. Only 3.6% reported being not current on mortgage payments (down slightly from 4.1% last wave), and concern about the likelihood of foreclosure is extremely low among these non-current mortgage holders. 
  • Rent prices: In the fall of 2022 Tucson rent prices began decreasing on average, albeit very modestly. In the Spring of 2023 rent prices in Tucson registered modest upticks in median/average rent prices. Despite these increases, seasonally adjusted metrics of Tucson rent prices increased only 3.5% between April 2023 and April 2024. 
  • Rental vacancy rate: In addition, there is unambiguous good news in the rental vacancy rate, which has been trending upwards since the end of 2021, and hit an 8-year high in the 1st quarter of 2024. However, countervailing signals worth attention include: 54% of all Arizona respondents reported they had not experienced pressure to move in the last 6 months, 62% of Arizona renters reported an increase in their monthly rent in the last year and 48% reported an increase of $100 or more. 
  • Eviction filings: The most significant development in this report is that eviction filings have fallen substantially since January and suggest a substantial easing of housing insecurity among Pima County renters. Relative to a peak of 1307 eviction filings in January of 2024, the monthly count of eviction filings has fallen 54.7% to 592 in June. We have not seen the count of eviction filings this low since August of 2021 immediately following the expiration of the eviction moratorium.
  • Basic necessities: Other metrics suggest continuing reason for concern: 9% of Arizona households reported reducing or not paying expenses for basic household necessities (such as medicine or food) “almost every month” in the last 12 months to pay an energy bill (65% of households reported “never” being in this situation). Credit card debt balances nationwide and in Arizona have increased 33% between Q4 2022-Q4 2023. And since November of 2023, counts of calls to 211 from Pima County indicate a very substantial increase in calls related to housing and shelter and utilities in recent months.