PHOENIX – Maricopa County officials on Wednesday released the results of the 2025 Point in Time (PIT) homelessness count.
The Maricopa County PIT count conducted earlier this year documented a 3% increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness in metro Phoenix since the 2024 count, which was the first since 2017 to show an annual decline.
The 2025 PIT total of 9,734 was the largest ever recorded, 1% higher than the 2023 figure.
The annual one-day census tallies the number of unhoused people staying in shelters as well as those sleeping in parks, cars and other places not meant for habitation.
Maricopa County PIT count showed spike in unsheltered homelessness
This year’s count, which was conducted on Jan. 28, showed a 16% decrease in sheltered individuals but a 28% increase in the unsheltered total.
The loss of federal funding for more than 1,000 shelter beds between 2024 and 2025 contributed to the rise in unsheltered homelessness, officials said.
Communities have been working to fill the gaps left by the lost funding.
“Those funds did a lot for our community,” Rachel Milne, co-chair of the Maricopa Regional COC, said in a press release. “They helped us design new ways to house and serve our unsheltered neighbors; they provided supportive services for seniors, families and individuals to help end their homelessness; and they allowed us to increase the number of shelter beds available to provide a safe, indoor space for thousands of people in need.”
The Maricopa Association of Governments coordinates the PIT count each year on behalf of the Maricopa Regional Continuum of Care (COC), the Valley branch of a federal program committed to ending homelessness.
Local governments, nonprofits and faith-based communities provide hundreds of volunteers to carry out the vast operation.
The results are a key tool for policymakers as they seek solutions.
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