Ohio agencies are concerned homelessness will continue to rise this year because of federal funding cuts.
On Tuesday, Summit County groups did their annual Point-In-Time Count, a survey of the community’s homeless population. Many Northeast Ohio agencies are conducting the federally mandated PIT Count this week, while Wayne County and others postponed to next week due to the low temperatures.
In Akron, volunteers and staff members trekked through the snow and frigid temperatures to talk with people staying in tents outside, said Chris Richardson, director of the housing coalition Summit County Continuum of Care.
Some tents were empty, likely because people were staying at the city’s emergency warming center instead, but Richardson spoke with a handful of people at an encampment on the city’s east side.
“They’re actually okay living in that habitat,” Richardson said. “It establishes and gives them their own privacy and their own independency, believe it or not.”
Volunteers also go to shelters, particularly in Akron and Barberton, to count how many individuals are staying there.
The PIT Count data will not be publicly available until later this year, but Richardson anticipates a rise.
“There’s a demand for shelter, outreach and prevention – those services are up,” Richardson said.
Agencies saw a reduction in funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, last year, which has impacted outreach efforts, he added.
“Any cuts to HUD funding is going to do nothing but increase this homeless crisis,” Richardson said. “It’s something that’s probably going to flood our hospitals, flood our jails, it’s going to flood our neighborhoods, and not in a healthy way.”
Last year’s data show 638 people were experiencing homelessness in Summit County. About 145 of them were living outside.
Wayne County homeless advocates are also anticipating a rise this year, said Brandon Barnes, executive director of the Homeward Bound overnight shelter in Wooster.
While the organization does not receive federal funding, they collaborate with many social service organizations that are concerned about continued funding cuts, Barnes said.
“The number of people that … we just served in 2025, unique guests just for our overnight shelter, was 136 individuals – [I’m] thinking that could double if these cuts go in place,” Barnes said.
That’s because these services, such as housing, addiction and mental health support, help remove barriers that contribute to chronic homelessness, Barnes said.
When the county conducts its annual PIT Count next week, Barnes expects the numbers to be higher than last year.
Both Barnes and Richardson point to a lack of affordability as the main cause of homelessness.
“If I can’t pay my own rent … if I can’t pay for my food and my medicine and all those other things, that’s a challenge,” Richardson said. “It really does boil down to making sure, when we provide housing for people, that we know that they can afford it, and that it is a place that is clean … that will allow for them to thrive.”
Barnes added that because affordable housing is scarce, apartments that do open up are very competitive.
“We’re seeing the folks that we’re serving are kind of falling lower on the priority list and missing out on some places that are going to some other folks that are in the community,” Barnes said.
Last year, Wayne reported 115 individuals experiencing homelessness, with 29 unsheltered.
