Amount of people experiencing homelessness in El Paso County released

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - The Pikes Peak Continuum of Care's (PPCoC)2026 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count identified 1,413 people experiencing homelessness in El Paso County, marking a 19% decrease compared to 2025 figures. However, the group behind the count warned that these numbers need to be taken into context with the weather the week that the count was conducted.

The count, conducted between Jan. 24-28, 2026, occurred during dangerously cold weather, with temperatures below 0°F, which influenced the reported 19% decrease in the overall homeless population from the previous year, according to PPCoC.

The annual Point-in-Time Count provides a one-night snapshot of homelessness in the community. In 2025, the count identified 1,745 people experiencing homelessness and 522 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness.

The 2026 count identified 308 individuals as unsheltered and 1,105 in emergency shelters, transitional housing, or safe haven settings. This year's effort was conducted during conditions that prompted the City's Cold Weather Protocol, which increased shelter utilization and likely contributed to fewer people being visible in unsheltered locations, according to PPCoC.

The report says among those counted, 283 individuals met the federal definition of chronic homelessness, indicating they live with disabling conditions and have experienced extended or repeated periods without housing. They say this highlights an ongoing need for supportive housing solutions within the community.

More than 100 volunteers, along with local service providers and housing programs, coordinated the effort to survey individuals in emergency shelters, transitional housing and unsheltered locations, including outside, in vehicles, or in other places not meant for habitation.

The overnight temperatures during the count fell below 0°F, with wind chills reaching -25°F and snow remaining on the ground, said PPCoC. These severe weather conditions, which activated emergency warming resources, likely led to increased shelter use and fewer individuals being visible outdoors, posing greater challenges for surveyors, according to the report.

The El Paso County Coroner confirmed that so far in 2026, seven people have died in the county related to cold exposure. The coroner's office notes that those are the closed and finalized cases.

PPCoC notes the PIT Count provides a snapshot of homelessness on a single night each year and is not intended to be a comprehensive representation or a reliable measure of long-term trends. Its results can be influenced by external factors such as the number of volunteers, outreach capacity and weather conditions, often resulting in an undercount, PPCoC reports.

Becky Treece, PPCoC Board Chair, acknowledged these nuances.

"While this year's Point-in-Time Count reflects fewer people experiencing homelessness on a single night, it is also a reminder of the incredible work happening across our community every day," Treece said. "Service providers, outreach teams, health care partners, housing organizations, faith communities and local governments are working together to connect neighbors experiencing homelessness with shelter, housing resources and supportive services that address both immediate needs and long-term stability. The PIT Count offers an important snapshot, but year-round data helps us better understand the ongoing demand for these services and the collective impact of our community's efforts to help people move toward safe, stable housing."

For a broader understanding of homelessness, the PPCoC recommends looking to the State of Homelessness Report, which incorporates year-round data from the Homeless Management Information System and other sources.

Yemi Mobolade, Mayor of Colorado Springs, acknowledged the latest results.

"While the Point-in-Time Count represents a snapshot of a single night, this year's results are encouraging," Mobolade said. "The decrease reflects the impact of the hard work happening every day across our community to connect people with shelter, services, housing and support."

He noted that while challenges remain, the results confirm the importance of action, coordinated efforts and hope. The city collaborates with the Pikes Peak Continuum of Care, service providers, nonprofit and faith partners, public safety agencies and community organizations to address homelessness. This collective effort includes coordinated street outreach, shelter support, cold weather response, public safety coordination, encampment response and investments in housing solutions. The City's objective is to support efforts that aim to make homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring, while also balancing compassion, public safety and long-term stability for individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

Come July 1, the city of Colorado Springs is transitioning to a new system with the Pikes Peak United Way to address these needs.

Efforts to provide housing continue, with more than 1,000 new affordable housing units constructed annually in the area since 2018, according to city officials.

Aimee Cox, who holds the city's Chief Housing and Homeless Services role, explained that the city does not directly provide most services but partners with external nonprofit organizations.

"The city of Colorado Springs invests at its basic functions," Cox said. "We provide outstanding law enforcement. We provide through our public works department clean up, our fire department provides outreach. We help develop housing or work with partners to develop housing through funding tools."

Cox detailed that the city's internal work includes homeless outreach, largely through its fire department, which provides street-level case management. External partnerships include groups like Homeward Pikes Peak, which conducts street outreach to connect unsheltered individuals with resources. The city also invests in shelters and housing, Cox said approximately 1,700 units are currently under construction or in the pipeline. These units aim to serve a broad range of lower incomes, including people who are extremely low income.

"I like to say that housing is the foundation for everything else and that once people are housed, it helps with their education, their careers, their children's development," Cox said. "So it begins with that housing."

The city noted the community has seen a 12% increase in people in transitional housing, with numbers rising from 451 to 504. While people in transitional housing are still considered homeless by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, city officials view this increase as progress. Cox noted that transitional housing typically provides about two years of support for individuals fleeing crises like domestic violence, helping them achieve stability. She said they are described as homeless still, because they do not have an official lease.

The annual point-in-time count identified 283 people experiencing chronic homelessness. Cox explained it involves both a disability and homelessness for a year or more.

She highlighted the complexity of addressing this population, stating, "poverty is not a straight line. It is a knot of social maladies. And trying to pull that knot apart can take a lot of time, requires a lot of individual care and requires a lot of different resources."

Cox explained that the Pikes Peak Continuum of Care uses the count to identify trends but the city aims to get more real-time data.

"You can't solve a problem that you can't define," Cox said. "And so what we're trying to do is really maximize the use of data and the transparency of data for our community."

The "built for zero" program, which provides monthly data on veterans and youth homelessness, has shown a significant decline in veterans experiencing homelessness through this approach, Cox said. While specific data on homelessness is not broken down by neighborhood, officials noted concentrations of unsheltered populations in downtown Colorado Springs, South Nevada near Las Vegas Street and the North Nevada/Fillmore/Old Colorado City areas. These areas have been identified for additional outreach and security efforts, according to city officials. Cox emphasized the crucial role of community partners in these efforts.

"The service providers in this community are the real heroes here who are standing up every day and often standing in a gap," Cox said. "Our ability to really invest in those folks and invest in the outcomes, right, that people are returning to stability and flourishing is critical."

The city aims to move toward a more transparent and real-time data system to better understand and respond to the evolving needs of the community. This includes moving from annual reporting to creating more frequent data releases, potentially quarterly. The city says the new collaborative effort seeks to build a larger system that establishes pathways for people to achieve stability.

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