Everyone knows that the city of Greensboro and Guilford County as a whole have a tremendous problem with homelessness, and, by the very nature of homelessness, it’s hard to get exact numbers on the situation.

Despite that inherent difficulty, each year, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development requires Continuum of Care organizations – like the collective battling homelessness in Guilford County – to count the number of homeless in the service area; and it’s almost time for what’s known as the annual “Point-in-Time Count,” which is a two-day collaborative effort to get a good assessment as to how many people in Guilford County have nowhere to live.

Any count of this nature is going to be inexact; however, the results help local leaders and HUD officials identify the extent of the problem in communities across the country. The effort counts both sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness and the data collected is used partially to determine the services and resources provided in different communities meant to address the problem.

In every odd-numbered year, like 2025, the effort across the country is more comprehensive: Instead of just counting people served by shelters and local organizations, groups of volunteers take to the streets and attempt to count, at a single point in time, all of the homeless in the community.

This year the count in Guilford County will start on Wednesday, Jan. 29 and continue through Thursday, Jan. 30.  In addition to the teams that hit the streets and survey the homeless, volunteers are needed for support roles.

Many time shifts are available for those who do wish to participate. Pictured above are a group of volunteers who took part in a night shift in the 2023 count.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners made addressing the problem of homelessness one of its major points of emphasis two years ago and the Greensboro City Council has had numerous highly publicized discussions and troubles battling the problem – yet homelessness in the area doesn’t seem to be getting any better.

In fact, problems at the Interactive Resource Center – a Greensboro nonprofit that attempts to help the homeless by providing them a place to clean up, check emails and get out of the cold – ended its around the clock operations in late 2024 after complaints from nearby businesses and residents, a slew of 911 calls from the area and a shooting outside the facility.

The Resource Center wasn’t meant to be a homeless shelter and it has no beds; however, it was, for much of last year, a place where people could go at all hours of the day or night and get warm and sleep in a chair.

 After the downtown Greensboro facility began running 24/7, it started to look more and more like a shelter.

Since it is such a central locus for those experiencing homelessness, the shorter hours of operation for the downtown center may contribute to the difficulty of getting an accurate count this year.

Guilford County, the cities of Greensboro and High Point, area non-profits, churches and others are working together and working hard to address the problem; however, the homeless situation is still overwhelming in the county and it’s an especially sad situation in January and February when temperatures at night can get down into the teens or even lower.

This type of feet-on-the-ground count is so important that some Continuum of Care organizations conduct it every year even though they’re not required by HUD to do so.

In addition to conducting the count, volunteers have often provided “Blessing Bags” to the homeless – that is, bags of toiletries and other necessities distributed to those who are counted.

Here’s a list of some of the partners Guilford County has thanked for their contributions to this effort in the past:

  • The Volunteer Center
  • High Point University
  • The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (Center for Housing and Community Studies)
  • Welfare Reform Liaison Project
  • United Way of High Point
  • Open Door Ministries of High Point
  • The Servant Center
  • East Market Street Seventh-Day Adventist Church
  • Women’s Resource Center in Greensboro
  • Jamestown Presbyterian Church

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