On January 28, two of our staff and community partners bundled up and spent the late night hours walking the streets of Phoenixville and Spring-City.
The purpose? To count the number of individuals sleeping out in the cold as a part of the annual Point-In-Time (PIT) Count, a survey conducted across the country every January to identify the scope of homelessness in each community and understand the needs and services required.
For our staff and everyone else taking part in the survey this January, this meant walking and driving through town, keeping an eye out for individuals who are homeless. It was frigid cold, but that only highlighted the importance of their task.
When temperatures drop below freezing, frostbite, hypothermia and death are a risk for anyone who might be spending the night in the cold. Here, shelter is essential.
The PIT Count enumerates the number of individuals facing homelessness, whether in emergency shelters, transitional housing or facing unsheltered homelessness. It is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for any community who receives funds from the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants program—a program that provides important funding for housing and education.
These funds help combat homelessness, streamlining the process for people to find safe stable housing. The amount each Continuum of Care—how regions are broken down—receive is all dependent on this one night in January.
In Lancaster County in 2025, the PIT Count happened on the coldest night of the year with temperatures dropping to -4F. Teams identified 64 unsheltered individuals, and 482 individuals in emergency or transitional housing. The 2025 PIT count in Chester County happened just a week later and reported 313 individuals experiencing homelessness. 26 of those were sleeping in parks, cars, bus or train stations and more, places not meant for human habitation.
While this year’s PIT counts have not been released, the numbers will play an important role in ensuring our neighbors facing homelessness receive the care and support they need to gain safe, stable housing.
Each year, the results of the PIT count are a reminder of the sheer magnitude of the homelessness crisis and the demand for the services we at Good Samaritan Services provide every day. The need for those services becomes even more vital in the winter months as cold weather does not pause crises, it intensifies them.
For some, these months can be a matter of life or death.
At Good Sam, we are committed to walking beside neighbors in need to provide shelter, stable housing, warm meals, case management, counseling, and supportive services so that our neighbors facing homelessness don’t have to sleep in the cold. Instead, we want to give them the chance to thrive.
Will you help us?
Charitable giving often slows after the holidays, even as the need for our services is at its greatest. Please consider making a gift today so we can continue responding, without pause, to our neighbors facing homelessness and housing insecurity when it matters most this winter.
