The 2025 Point in Time Count, unveiled by United Way of Denton County, showed a 33 percent increase in Denton County of individuals experiencing homelessness from last year.
Last year, the Point in Time Count reported 518 homeless individuals. This year’s reported 690.
Of those 690, 282 were unsheltered and 408 sheltered. 587 were adults and 103 were children. 118 individuals experiencing chronic homelessness also deal with conditions affecting physical or mental health. 51 percent of individuals were experiencing homelessness for the first time.
No children found were unsheltered, said Denton County Commissioner Bobbie Mitchell in her newsletter, but she acknowledged it was just one day, so it is still a possibility.
Jill Adams serves on the Homelessness Leadership Team with Mitchell and works as a Director of Counseling and Social Work Services at Lewisville ISD.
She shared the story of a mother she had helped whose husband had passed away. Because she had to take time off from work to care for the kids, she had to make a decision between paying the electric bill, buying food for her kids or paying rent.
With Denton County’s diversion program, which aims to prevent someone from becoming homeless, she was connected to community resources including counseling, food and a support system.
She applied for and received SNAP benefits, which allowed her to cover her payments.
“The costs associated with diversion are significantly less,” said Adams. “A diversion might include a $200 bus ticket to re-unify a family instead of the cost to stay in a shelter, which can average $8,600 per individual.”
Mitchell said the story represents diversion in action and why so many are collaborating on the issue of addressing homelessness before it happens.
The report took place on Thursday, January 23 across 19 cities throughout Denton County with volunteers gathering information through surveys.
Participants in the survey were given emergency bags with gloves, socks and other items as a thank you for their participation.
Since October 2017, the Denton County Housing Crisis Response team housed an estimated 1,275 individuals.
Mitchell said their mission stays the same: reduce barriers, increase housing and reduce the return to homelessness.
Adams said the snapshot doesn’t tell the whole story sometimes. Lewisville ISD, the county’s largest school district, has more than 3,000 students believed to be at risk of being unhoused.
Mitchell said diversion will be a key strategy to attacking the issue of homelessness.
“This is where our best opportunities to make a difference can be found,” she said. “If we can keep people from being unhoused, we can keep our population in a place where they can receive resources they need at a much less costly level to help them become self-sustaining once again.”
