SPOKANE, Wash. – The 2025 Point in Time (PIT) survey reported a decrease in homelessness in Spokane County for the second consecutive year.
The PIT survey is conduced every year over one night. In 2025, the count took place on January 22.
In a release, the City of Spokane pointed to their navigation center-specialized site model, also known as the scattered site model, to address homelessness.
The City says this model allows homeless populations to access specific sites across the city where they can connect with resources to achieve stable housing.
The 2025 PIT survey identified 1,806 individuals experiencing homelessness in Spokane County.
The survey also indicated that adult white men make up a significant portion of the region’s homeless community.
In addition to tracking demographic data, the PIT survey collects information on the number of available homeless beds. According to a statement by the city, there was a 16% vacancy rate in homeless shelters on January 22, leaving 165 beds empty.
However, most vacancies were in youth and young adult shelters, which are not accessible to adult males.
“It’s not just about total beds, but it’s about places that are suitable for specific individuals,” Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown said.
The survey also tracks where individuals lived before experiencing homelessness.
“We always ask if they lived in Spokane County before they were experiencing this episode of homelessness, and consistently throughout the year, we see that roughly within the 70% range,” Homeless Management Information System Lead Analyst Amanda Martinez said.
Matt Anderson, co-chair of the Continuum of Care Board, stated that the notion that homeless populations are largely from outside areas isn’t correct.
“This myth, I’ll call it a myth that they’re all coming here from somewhere else is this exists to varying degrees in almost every city,” Anderson said.
According to PIT data, 70% of homeless individuals are from Spokane County. Another 14% are from inside Washington. Only 14% of individuals contacted in PIT are not from Washington.
Anderson added that Spokane’s statistic aligns with most major cities in the United States regarding the origins of homeless individuals.
“What’s the first thing you need to get out of being homeless? And housing, of course, is number one. Number two, which surprised me at the time, was transportation before employment,” Anderson said
