the Oasis

The 2026 Point In Time count yielded fewer people counted as experiencing homelessness than in 2025.

By Scott Morgan, Managing Editor
Feb. 6, 2026

On Feb. 5, CACH, the Catawba Area Coalition for the Homeless, released its data from the Point In Time (PIT) count that took place a week before – from Jan. 28 to 30. 

Unofficially, the number of people in York County counted as experiencing homelessness and near-homelessness during the 2026 PIT count was 268. 

That’s down 8.6% down compared to a year ago and down more than 20% down from 2024.

There could be a lot of reasons why, and none of them are concrete.

One possible reason for the lower number is weather. The week of this year’s PIT count happened to fall between a major ice storm and a major snow storm, which might have driven people off the streets.

With temperatures in the 20s and 30s lingering from the week prior to the count, CACH Executive Director Melissa Carlyle says “there were probably more people in the shelters that may have otherwise been in an unsheltered location. There are likely more people who were unsheltered that we just didn’t come into contact with.”

Another possible reason for lower numbers is that one of CACH’s most likely places to find people experiencing housing insecurity wasn’t open.

“The library was closed,” she says.

The Rock Hill branch of the York County Library System closed in the fall for renovations and is expected to stay closed until at least March. 

“Typically, we have a volunteer station set up at the library,” Carlyle says. “That’s where we see a lot of people who do identify as being at risk of homelessness, so that may be why we saw that number go down this year.”

Still another reason for a lower number might be increased enforcement of laws that people experiencing homelessness are more prone to violating – trespassing, shoplifting, loitering, or unlawful entry charges, for example – following a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court decision that effectively took away protections for people sleeping in public.

Public records from the York County Sheriff’s Office show four trespassing calls between Feb. 1 and Feb. 4. Public Records from the Winthrop University Police Department show one call related to trespassing so far this year. The university has averaged four calls per month in January and February since 2021.

“When you have an increase in criminalization of homelessness, which we’re seeing across the nation and in the state and locally,” Carlyle says, “it’s harder to count people … staying in encampments. We see a lot of encampment sweeps, a lot of people that are being arrested for trespassing, loitering, things like that, so it gets harder to find people who are unsheltered during the PIT count.”

On the entire other end of the spectrum, one reason for a lower number of people counted as experiencing homelessness or of being at risk of homelessness is that the system set up in Rock Hill is doing its job.

“ I do think we’re seeing our homeless response system is working better,” Carlyle says. “We’re collaborating more closely with our shelter partners. We have substantially increased our capacity for programs like Rapid ReHousing and Rapid Reset, where we provide moving assistance and rental assistance. So, I think some of it is that we’re transitioning more people from homelessness into permanent housing.”

CACH reported that 33 households have transitioned into housing  through Rapid ReHousing and 24 have transitioned into housing through Rapid Reset since July.

By the numbers

CACH’s 2026 PIT numbers are unofficial and only for York County. CACH serves York, Lancaster, and Chester counties.

Official numbers only come out from HUD, which compiles data from various continuums of care and releases its report later in the year. 

HUD’s numbers from CACH’s reporting will almost certainly be lower than what CACH announced on Feb. 5, in large part due to stricter criteria for what HUD counts as experiencing homelessness.

CACH counts experiencing actual homelessness, but also counts people who are at risk of homelessness – those who are not technically unsheltered, but who are not living at a permanent address, for example.

So CACH’s numbers will look different from counts that will come out through HUD sometime this year. Reports have been released as early as spring and as late as fall.

In its 2026 PIT count, CACH counted 268 individuals; 27 who were considered to be at-risk.

• 12% were age 65 or older
• 53% were African-American; 44% were White
• 37% were not employed but looking; 19% were disabled
• 96 respondents to CACH’s survey (205 respondents in total) cited a single reason that contributed to their housing insecurity. The most cited factor (86 respondents) was strained connections with family or friends. Loss of income (78) and eviction (74) were close behind.
• 70% of people surveyed lived in CACH’s service area; 123 of 208 respondents listed York County as their last place of residence. 

Disclaimer: Oasis News board member Rachel Chwaszczewski is involved with Rock Hill’s RapidReHousing program. She was not consulted for and did not contribute to this story.

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