The most recent annual winter count of Cape and Islands residents experiencing homelessness is highlighting a steady increase in need.
This year’s Point in Time count — completed over one night in January — found 500 individuals experiencing homelessness locally, about 400 adults and 100 children.
The numbers represent a roughly 40% increase in residents experiencing homelessness from Point in Time counts from a decade ago, just prior to the pandemic, before high housing costs prompted a surge in housing insecurity.
The rise in homelessness in the region reflected in the count is a trend that local providers have been aware of and have been trying to address.
“If you look at the 10 year trend, the numbers in general are increasing,” said Cassie Danzl, COO of the nonprofit Housing Assistance.
The 2026 count had the second highest number of those considered homeless ever recorded for our region, according to Barnstable County data going back to 2012. Only the 2024 count had more.
While there has been a rise in need, the count from the winter also shows that providers have been meeting the need, at least on an emergency basis.
The vast majority of the 500 individuals experiencing homelessness, or about 85%, were listed as being in shelter at least for the night.
The feels-like temperature in the region was below freezing the night of, which unlocked local funding to shelter individuals temporarily.
The cold temperatures were a common theme over the winter and providers have been encouraged that no one died from freezing temperatures this winter.
“I know that this last year a lot of agencies went into the red, making sure that no one was left outside because the risk of death was so high with what the weather was like this year,” Danzl told CAI.
This year’s count also found a rise in unsheltered residents living on Martha’s Vineyard. There were 25 people unsheltered on the island on the night of the count, the highest reported number going back at least a decade.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires the Point in Time count as part of providing funding to communities to address homelessness. Experts have noted that the count is imperfect in that it can be difficult to document everyone who is homeless, and some do not participate in the survey, but that it is useful in understanding trends.
