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Brad Carson, maintenance technician at Provo City Housing Authority, gathers information from homeless individuals sleeping in a van during the Point-In-Time Count in Provo on Jan. 30, 2025.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

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Jessie Oyler, deputy executive director at Provo City Housing Authority, gathers information from a person experiencing homelessness during the Point-In-Time Count in Provo on Jan. 30, 2025.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

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Volunteers are shown as information is gathered from people experiencing homelessness during the Point-In-Time Count in Provo on Jan. 30, 2025.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

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Ice-cold temperatures gripped the pavement outside of a Provo church where two members of a four-person team discovered a man sleeping under a pile of blankets Thursday morning.

“Can I offer you some blankets, or some warm socks and gloves?” Jessie Oyler, deputy executive director at the Provo City Housing Authority, asked the man, who identified himself as Jordan and said he’d been homeless for over a year.

Seemingly unruffled by the awakening, Jordan provided answers to a series of questions, which Oyler logged in an app used to survey and keep a tally of people experiencing homelessness on this particular morning.

While he answered the questions, a blanket was draped over Jordan by Drea Tanuvasa, an administrative assistant at Provo City Housing Authority and a member of the group conducting the survey.

Oyler handed the man a slew of food and transportation gift cards. Jordan tugged on the extra layer of warmth and resumed his sleep.

A snapshot of homelessness

Jordan was just one of several individuals the foursome came upon during day one of the Point-In-Time Count, a census of people experiencing homelessness conducted during three nights in January. A number of small groups made up of homeless and housing service provider volunteers scoured portions of Utah County and the state to gather an assessment of homelessness in Utah.

Between the hours of 4 and 7 a.m., volunteers explored areas such as parking lots of various businesses, freeway and train crossing underpasses, parks and other places where unhoused citizens may be sleeping in public spaces or in a vehicle.

The temperature was around 18 degrees Thursday morning in Provo’s East Bay area where Charles Pigot was camped outside of a gas station.

He told the group of volunteers he had been homeless from time to time over the past 11 years. He’d been living with his partner but was asked to leave earlier that morning.

“So I’ve been out here in the cold for the last couple hours, just trying to figure out what I’m going to do with myself,” Pigot said.

He detailed experiences of previously being homeless in Salt Lake County, expressing the challenges of living on the streets, including the risk of having his possessions taken and occasional homeless abatements.

“You blink your eyes, and all (of) your s— is gone,” Pigot said.

But things weren’t always bad. Pigot said at times he kept a stable job, but a reduction in hours made it difficult to maintain finances.

Pigot also admitted to struggles with addiction that he believes may have caused a strain on his marriage.

According to the Utah Office of Homeless Services, homelessness can impact people of different ages and from various walks of life for individualized reasons. Factors range from economic issues to substance abuse, fleeing domestic or sexual violence and lack of housing.

Below an overpass near the Provo Central Station, volunteers encountered an elderly woman sleeping in a van along with two others who said she’d been homeless since 2022 after being evicted due to unpaid rent.

The Point-In-Time Count provides essential information to state leaders and policymakers that helps them better understand homelessness in Utah. Additionally, the multi-day effort works as a housing inventory count – comparing the number of individuals and families who are utilizing current homeless services with those who aren’t.

It also helps connect unsheltered individuals to resources that can help them.

In 2024, Utah County reported 175 unhoused people during the annual Point-In-Time Count, roughly an 8% decrease compared to 2023.

Advocates previously said they are hopeful that the numbers will continually decrease with nightly operations of the current warming center program.

An eye-opening experience

Brad Carson, a maintenance technician at Provo City Housing Authority, was among the group of four assigned to an area of Provo to identify and survey people experiencing homelessness. He called the experience eye-opening and humbling.

“A tremendous reminder of how blessed I am and how easy it is to find yourself in that position,” Carson said.

He recounted surveying the woman in the van, who mentioned she suffers from severe health complications and is currently on a waitlist for housing.

“She was down on her luck. But I’m just hoping that, you know, by offering her some gift cards, some meals and giving her some resources that she could use — hopefully that will help,” Carson said.

He encourages others who see a need in their communities to get involved through small acts of kindness as those efforts can go a long way.

“Anything you do is better than nothing, a little bit of money, share of your resources — it’s not ours. It’s God’s,” Carson said.

Thursday was Carson’s first time volunteering in the Point-In-Time Count, though he said he had previously worked with a homelessness service group in Salt Lake County.

It was also Oyler’s first time participating. He said it was heartbreaking to see people in vulnerable circumstances in such frigid weather conditions.

“It tugs at your heart a bit to see individuals that are struggling and don’t have a place, especially this time of year, where it’s so cold,” he told the Daily Herald.

Provo and Utah County are not immune to the housing crisis the rest of the state and other parts of the country are facing.

Yet, Oyler encourages individuals who find themselves unhoused to seek out resources like warming centers and social services that help lead them down a path to eventually procuring sustainable living conditions.

“Reach out to their support system, make those changes that are needed to get from point A to point B, and to not give up hope,” he said.

Volunteers in Utah County were planning to scour the streets again on Friday morning. Across the state, the Point-In-Time Count runs through Saturday.