Good News? Point-in-time Count finds homeless population in Clark County fell 18% over past year.
But the number of homeless families with children climbed 16%
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https://www.columbian.com/news/2026/may/19/the-crisis-is-far-from-over-point-in-time-count-finds-homeless-population-in-clark-county-fell-18-over-past-year/
Clark County’s homeless population dropped from 1,530 people to 1,260 over the past year, according to recently released data from Council for the Homeless. Service providers say the nearly 18 percent decrease is evidence of progress, but they caution that homelessness in the community remains far from solved.
“Counting fewer people outside — that is a win all day,” said Jamie Spinelli, Vancouver’s homeless response manager. “But it’s so important not to view that as the end of addressing homelessness.”
On Monday, the Vancouver nonprofit Council for the Homeless released its 2026 Point-in-Time Count report, an annual head count conducted on a single day in late January. The organization said the count does not capture the full extent of homelessness in the region.
In addition to showing a drop in the number of homeless people in Clark County from 2025 to 2026, the report also indicates progress in stabilizing vulnerable groups, such as seniors and veterans.
Despite overall homelessness declining in Clark County this year, the number of struggling families with children continues to grow. More than 170 families with children were counted this year — a 16 percent increase from the previous year.
“Family homelessness has always been referred to as the invisible homelessness, because it’s not as visible as what we would normally see on the street,” said Scott Kerman, interim executive director of Vancouver nonprofit Share. “The worry has always been that the Point-in-Time Count represents an undercount of families … and that the number does not really speak to who is truly out there.”
The data is collected on the streets, during a resource fair the same day and through collaboration with Clark County school districts. Spinelli said the data doesn’t reflect what the city’s outreach team is seeing.
“We rarely run into kids outside,” Spinelli said.
Homelessness across major demographic categories decreased significantly, according to the data.
Unsheltered homelessness — those living on the street and in vehicles — decreased 11 percent, to 659 people, this year. Although encouraging, this group still makes up more than half of Clark County’s overall homeless population, according to the data.
Council for the Homeless also recorded a 46 percent decrease in use of transitional housing due to these beds being converted to permanent housing.
The number of people in emergency shelters decreased 15 percent because fewer winter shelter beds were available in 2026, according to the data.
People of color — who face disproportionate barriers to housing stability, including housing discrimination, higher rates of poverty and language barriers — made up 40 percent of the homeless population in 2026, an increase of 2 percent, the data showed. People of color account for 26 percent of Clark County’s overall population.
For the third year in a row, unaccompanied minors held steady with six counted. Domestic violence survivors made up about 10 percent of the total homeless population, with 129 people, according to the data.
Nearly 30 percent of the overall homeless population was considered chronically homeless, that is, homeless for 12 months or longer or multiple times over three years.