photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

Members of the point-in-time count team that the Journal-World accompanied prepare to survey a resident of the camp near Lawrence's Amtrak station during the early morning on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.

The Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition used a new app and other safeguards to ensure this year’s point-in-time count accurately captured homelessness in Douglas County on a single night in January – and here’s how they did it.

This year’s “point-in-time count” was conducted by the Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition – a Lawrence-based nonprofit that coordinates homelessness efforts across Kansas. The annual, one-night census is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to measure sheltered and unsheltered homelessness. In previous years, the city has largely led the count.

On Jan. 28, volunteers for Douglas County’s point-in-time count surveyed individuals and families staying in emergency shelters, transitional housing, and, in unsheltered locations such as cars, parks, and abandoned buildings.

As the Journal-World reported, this year’s count showed 303 people experiencing sheltered homelessness, up from 238 people in 2025. However, on the night the count was conducted, the city suspended its residency framework – the city’s policy for serving unhoused individuals from other communities.

This would allow anyone to use emergency winter shelter services during the month of the point-in-time count, and would therefore, significantly increase the shelter bed utilization.

Although suspending the residency framework resulted in a higher number of sheltered people experiencing homelessness on the January count night, Misty Bosch-Hastings, the city’s director of the Homeless Solutions Division, previously told the Journal-World that she thought the numbers for both sheltered and unsheltered homelessness were a little too high.

Bosch-Hastings had mentioned a concern about the KSHC potentially double-counting individuals, leading to higher counts.

However, unlike in previous years, the KSHC used a new mobile app – Counting Us – to survey people experiencing homelessness and log data in real time. It was the first time the app was used for the count; previously, volunteers recorded responses with paper and pencil.

While it made the process more efficient for volunteers, it was also one component of ensuring individuals were not double-counted, KSHC staff told the Journal-World.

To better understand how the count was conducted and how the KSHC arrived at its final numbers, the Journal-World asked coalition staff about the process, from volunteer training and the use of the new app to how the organization worked to prevent duplicate counts.

What is the Counting Us app?

The Counting Us app is a specialized mobile software developed by Simtech Solutions to automate data collection during the point-in-time count. The KSHC uses this app to coordinate, train volunteers, and log real-time data.

In the past, volunteers for the point-in-time count would fill out the survey with paper and a clipboard. Sarah Kinder, the regional coordinator for Douglas County at the time of this year’s count, said the app made a big difference.

“That was a huge, huge advantage that we had this year,” Kinder said.

The app has built-in survey logic that skips questions that don’t apply based on previous answers, and this helps prevent volunteers from accidentally missing required questions by HUD. For example, if a person identifies as an individual rather than a family, the app can automatically skip questions that don’t apply.

In addition, Kinder said it also prevents a duplication of individuals. “If someone says that they already did a survey with someone else, it stops you immediately,” Kinder said. “You can’t continue.”

What kinds of questions are asked to individuals experiencing homelessness on the night of the point-in-time count?

The point-in-time count survey asked people experiencing homelessness about their living situation and sleeping location on the night of Jan. 28, 2026, as well as basic demographic information used to prevent duplicate counts.

The survey also asked how long they had been homeless, how much time they had spent in shelters or on the streets during the previous three years, how many separate episodes of homelessness they had experienced and how long they had been in the current county.

Participants were asked about substance use disorders, chronic health conditions, mental health disorders, physical or developmental disabilities, HIV/AIDS, disability benefits and employment income. Other questions covered whether they were fleeing domestic violence, had a history of foster or group-home placement, or were veterans.

In an optional final section, participants could identify up to two factors that contributed to their homelessness — such as unaffordable housing, job loss, eviction, domestic violence or health issues — and up to two resources that would help them obtain and maintain housing.

Individuals are not counted as experiencing homelessness if they paid for a hotel or motel stay with their own funds; stay with family or friends; are staying in a place where they are being evicted from; are staying at a hospital or treatment center; are staying in transitional housing and paying rent.

What is included in the training volunteers are asked to complete prior to the count night?

The training teaches volunteers about the purpose of the point-in-time count and outlines HUD’s requirements and the methodology for that year.

In addition to learning how to use the Counting Us app, training walks volunteers through the survey given to unhoused individuals, including how to ask questions, what information is required and what constitutes a complete survey submission.

A major component of the training teaches trainees how to have a trauma-informed approach, Kayla Knier, the KSHC’s director of regional coordination, said.

“We work really hard at building out that training so that we are not only surveying individuals, but that we’re also trying to connect them with services as we’re speaking to them,” Knier said.

Volunteers must complete the training and register before conducting surveys. Additionally, volunteers are required to provide contact information in case any follow-up questions regarding their data collection arose.

How did volunteers survey Douglas County to determine the unsheltered homelessness population?

Volunteers were divided to cover different geographic regions of Douglas County – into northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest areas, so they could systematically cover the county. In addition, the northeastern area was divided into two smaller sections, Kinder said.

The areas were not selected randomly. Planning occurred months before the count to identify known locations and encampments where people experiencing unsheltered homelessness might be found.

“Those conversations and planning within Douglas County and other regions happen months in advance to identify those known locations and encampments,” Kinder said.

The team used information from the city’s campsite-reporting tool, along with knowledge from homeless-service providers, to identify places that needed to be checked. The maps used by volunteers specifically marked known locations, recent campsite reports and other areas that needed to be surveyed.

Are there any concerns about individuals being duplicated in the point-in-time count data?

Christy McMurphy, executive director of the KSHC, said via email that the organization had many steps in its count process where de-duplication would occur.

Volunteers were instructed, following HUD guidance, to ask each person whether they had already been interviewed that day. If so, the volunteer could not proceed with the survey.

For duplicates that still occurred – such as when two volunteers surveyed the same person in different locations – coalition administrators manually reviewed and cleaned the data using the Counting Us app. They audited GIS maps for surveys submitted close together in time and location and compared details such as initials, age and gender to identify matching profiles.

Administrators also conducted a second review using an Excel spreadsheet, checking dates of birth and initials and comparing sheltered survey data with information in the Homeless Management Information System. When discrepancies arose, the coalition said it shared permitted data with relevant agencies to help resolve them.

The coalition said HUD also conducts its own data validation before accepting the final count. HUD’s system flags impossible data that must be corrected and questionable data that requires an explanation before submission. It also compares the sheltered point-in-time count with the Housing Inventory Count, with discrepancies triggering additional validation. HUD’s review team works with the coalition through another data-cleaning process before the count is officially accepted, which the coalition said is one reason final numbers take time to be released.

“I think some communities’ (experience) frustrations because it is a lot of work to go out there and do the count and … it takes so long for it to come out,” Knier said.

“And that’s exactly why. It’s because HUD does that nationally across all (continuums of care) and does that verification, and that is a lot of work for them on their part,” Knier added. “That’s one of the reasons we wait to officially publish our results, so that we are in line with those duplication processes and verification.”

How does the KSHC plan to approach planning for next year’s point-in-time count?

Adele Honn, the KSHC’s director of the Homeless Management Information System, said the organization is already planning for next year’s point-in-time count.

Once the day is picked for the point-in-time count for 2027, the KSHC will refer to HUD’s planning document and determine what the methodology is going to be and what tools will be used. The plan is to still use the Counting Us app.

Knier said the KSHC will continue working to strengthen the point-in-time count process, adding that each year, the organization receives feedback from its regions on anything that should improve – whether it’s better coverage of a region or in training volunteers.

However, Knier said they know the regions will continue using the Counting Us app for next year’s count.

“I will tell you that we had a big sigh of relief that we’ll still be using the same app (next) year because it made things so much better,” Knier said.