SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah — In the early morning, around 350 volunteers scanned the neighborhoods and streets of Salt Lake County to count the number of people who slept on the streets. The volunteers were split into groups and given different neighborhoods to scan.
Austin Taylor, Jenny and Travis Starley spent the morning scanning the area around the Salt Lake City Library and the public safety building with surveys and other resources in hand. The volunteers started at 4 a.m. and ended their scan at 6 a.m.
The count will last three days — Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
“Today, tomorrow and Saturday actually,” Jenny said. “We just get the surveys done and everything is reflective of last night so tomorrow night we’ll be asking them where they slept the night before.”
Taylor said there’s also a lot of area to cover throughout the county, so having three days is helpful.
“I live in the central city neighborhood, which has a lot of homelessness in it,” Taylor said. I” see it every day. I want to make sure that we get a good count and get these numbers so that we, as a state, can understand how many people are sleeping outside so we can fix it.”
According to the 2025 PIT Count, about 4,584 people were experiencing homelessness in a given night, which is an 18% increase from 2023. Jenny said it’s important to gather this data to help get funding or other resources to address local needs.
“The way we solve it is through community action and that’s why we are here,” Jenny said.
She said they always look for volunteers for next year’s count as well, but there are ways to stay involved throughout the entire year.
“Homeless services need volunteers, communication and goods and services all year ‘round,” Jenny.
