Someone who has to survive without a regular place to sleep at night is vulnerable to danger, illness, and the more insidious harm of being shunned. One way to quantify the harm caused by homelessness is to understand how many people are experiencing it. How do we do that? We try to count them, and one city is leading the charge on a new approach. Teo tells Clare how it could change our view of our unhoused neighbors. 

We want to answer your questions about how our world works! Click here to submit a question using our online form, or email the team at ControlF@kuow.org

Support the show by supporting our home, KUOW Public Radio in Seattle.

Sources in this episode:
Annual Homelessness Assessment Report, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2024
Full Point-in-Time Counts, Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities Canada
Point-in-Time Count Underway, King County Regional Homelessness Authority
Point-in-Time Count presentation, King County Regional Homelessness Authority
Evaluation of Respondent-Driven Sampling prevalence estimators using real-world reported network degree, Lisa Avery and Michael Rotondi, Sage Journal 
Point-in-Time Count: Volunteer training, Texas Homeless Network, 2020
Point-in-Time Count standards and methodologies training, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2018 
Interview with Maria Arnes, PIT volunteer, 2026 
Interview with Jack Almquist, University of Washington, 2026
Interview with William Towey, King County Regional Homelessness Authority, 2026
Interview with Ann Oliva, National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2025

Someone who has to survive without a regular place to sleep at night is vulnerable to danger, illness, and the more insidious harm of being shunned. One way to quantify the harm caused by homelessness is to understand how many people are experiencing it. How do we do that? We try to count them, and one city is leading the charge on a new approach. Teo tells Clare how it could change our view of our unhoused neighbors.&nbsp;
We want to answer your questions about how our world works! <a href="https://forms.office.com/r/4nGSfCuAML">Click here</a> to submit a question using our online form, or email the team at ControlF@kuow.org
Support the show by supporting our home, <a href="https://www.kuow.org/donate/control-f-notes">KUOW Public Radio</a> in Seattle.
Sources in this episode:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/ahar/2024-ahar-part-1-pit-estimates-of-homelessness-in-the-us.html">Annual Homelessness Assessment Report</a>, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2024</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://housing-infrastructure.canada.ca/homelessness-sans-abri/resources-ressources/point-in-time-denombrement-ponctuel-eng.html">Full Point-in-Time Counts</a>, Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities Canada</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://kcrha.org/news-point-in-time-count-2026-underway/">Point-in-Time Count Underway</a>, King County Regional Homelessness Authority</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PviXXAhVmKw">Point-in-Time Count presentation</a>, King County Regional Homelessness Authority</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00811750231163832">Evaluation of Respondent-Driven Sampling prevalence estimators using real-world reported network degree</a>, Lisa Avery and Michael Rotondi, Sage Journal&nbsp;</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.thn.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/2020-PIT-Volunteer-Training.pdf">Point-in-Time Count: Volunteer training</a>, Texas Homeless Network, 2020</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.hudexchange.info/trainings/courses/point-in-time-pit-count-standards-and-methodologies-training/">Point-in-Time Count standards and methodologies training</a>, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2018&nbsp;</li>
<li aria-level="1">Interview with Maria Arnes, PIT volunteer, 2026&nbsp;</li>
<li aria-level="1">Interview with Jack Almquist, University of Washington, 2026</li>
<li aria-level="1">Interview with William Towey, King County Regional Homelessness Authority, 2026</li>
<li aria-level="1">Interview with Ann Oliva, National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2025</li>
</ul>

Control F is a podcast about data — hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data — and all the ways it influences our daily lives. In each episode, we dig deep on a topic and search through research, algorithms, and assumptions to bring you insights on how stuff works. In a world ruled by numbers, Control F reads between the (spreadsheet) lines to find the bigger story.

Control F is a podcast about data &mdash; hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data &mdash; and all the ways it influences our daily lives. In each episode, we dig deep on a topic and search through research, algorithms, and assumptions to bring you insights on how stuff works. In a world ruled by numbers, Control F reads between the (spreadsheet) lines to find the bigger story.

Control F is a podcast about data — hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data — and all the ways it influences our daily lives. 