The 2025 Point-In-Time Count, an annual census of sheltered or unsheltered individuals on a single night in January, showed 235 people experiencing homelessness in Utah County — a jump from 175 individuals in 2024, marking a 34% increase. 

Statewide, homelessness rose by 18% in Utah, according to the 2025 Point-In-Time Count report.

Heather Hogue, project coordinator with the Mountainland Continuum of Care, said data from the one night snapshot helps identify different trends and demographics within homeless populations.

Some of those trends, which Hogue called concerning, include an increase in unhoused seniors and veterans, as well as more children experiencing homelessness.

The number of Utah children experiencing homelessness jumped 12%, while the number of unhoused adults over the age of 64 rose by 42%.

Hogue noted the spike in Utah County families without a home as another concerning finding.

The Point-in-Time Count report shows the number of families with minor children experiencing homelessness rose from 37 to 61.

“Our numbers have remained relatively steady in the past couple of years with that family count,” Hogue said. “And so seeing that increase is concerning.”

Utah County’s homelessness data tells somewhat of a complex story. While the overall number of people experiencing homelessness is up, those without shelter on the night of Point-In-Time-Count decreased.

“We went from a high unsheltered count to a fairly high sheltered count,” Hogue said. 

In 2023, Utah County counted 106 individuals sleeping outdoors, in a vehicle or other uninhabitable spaces during the Point-In-Time-Count.

That number dropped to 96 people in 2024 and to 46 this year.

The decrease may be partly due to Utah County’s warming centers program.

In 2023, the Utah County Winter Response Task Force was formed to facilitate a myriad of resources for people experiencing homelessness to escape the cold. Part of the state-approved plan includes a rotating trio of warming centers operating seven nights a week, mostly during the winter.

Hogue said the warming centers, in conjunction with the county’s emergency hotel voucher program, served 675 different people between Oct. 15, 2024, and April 30, 2025 — 83% of which listed a Utah County address as their most recent residence.

“So that means the night of the Point-In-Time-Count, we had about a third of the people (in a warming center) that we’ve been seeing all winter,” she said.

Considering data beyond those surveyed during the 2025 count, Hogue believes the warming centers are serving their intended purpose of providing a safe place to rest and connecting people with services that can ultimately lead to a fresh start.

“We are putting more people in with service providers than have been seen before,” she told the Daily Herald. “For example, Wasatch Behavioral Health – they’re going to see more intakes as people connect with those sorts of services, addressing the barriers that led to homelessness.”

While Hogue says it’s encouraging that unsheltered individuals are seeking out resources in the county, she feels more solutions are needed to support those who have made necessary life changes but continue to face hurdles in achieving affordable housing.

“We cannot forget about that housing piece, because we have people on the street in Provo right now who have been sober, they have addressed their mental health, and we just don’t have places to put them,” she said. “So as a service provider, that’s pretty disheartening.”

As county homeless service providers, lawmakers, law enforcement and people with lived experience come to the table to explore more ways to provide resources for the homeless, Hogue said details are being finalized for the upcoming winter response plan.

She said an announcement regarding the 2025-26 warming centers program will be made public sometime in early September.