In January of last year, more than 100 Lake County volunteers bundled up and set out into the night as part of the 2025 Homeless Point-in-Time Count.

There was no such effort this year.

Late last month, just days before volunteers were set to go out once again, the Lake County Coalition for the Homeless announced it had cancelled the unsheltered portion of the 2026 PIT count, citing changes to federal funding that required a shift in the staff’s priorities.

“This decision reflects a careful balance between current realities and our commitment to maintaining high-quality data and a stable local homeless response system,” the release said.

While Lake County’s PIT counts have included the unsheltered portion every year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which mandates the annual PIT count, only requires it every other year. Lake County successfully conducted an unsheltered count in 2025.

This year, the release said the Lake County Continuum of Care team and homeless management information system administrator collected the required data for people experiencing homelessness staying in emergency shelters, transitional housing and permanent housing programs. That data will be released in the spring.

“We remain confident that the sheltered count and housing inventory data collected will provide valuable information to support planning and informed decision-making across Lake County,” the release said.

The decision to cut the unsheltered portion of the 2026 PIT count wasn’t universal in the region. Reporting indicates the city of Chicago moved ahead with the unsheltered portion of its count, as did at least some Cook County suburbs.

But the cancellation reflects uncertainty that has plagued numerous local government organizations since the start of the second administration of President Donald Trump, as questions swirl around the future of federal funds.

Malin Gembra, Lake County’s Continuum of Care program coordinator, said there has been “significant back-and-forth at the federal level” around HUD’s continuum of care funding process over the past several months.

“The issuance, rescission, and reissuance of guidance, along with shifting timelines, created a high level of uncertainty for communities nationwide,” Gembra said in a statement.

While those changes haven’t reduced funding to specific programs or grants in Lake County, Gembra said they’ve impacted capacity and planning around activities that rely heavily on staff time, coordination and volunteer management.

The unsheltered count, a complex operation running late into the night with numerous teams of volunteers scouring the county, was just such an activity.

In the current environment, Gembra said they chose to use their “limited resources to help providers and partners meet renewal requirements and keep systems running … rather than conducting a full unsheltered count during a period of federal uncertainty.”

Gembra said they are continuing to monitor a “very dynamic situation,” with uncertainty around what, if any, changes or cuts could mean for programs. However, she said they have no concerns about next year’s PIT count.

Lake County Board member Mary Ross-Cunningham, a major proponent of the homelessness count on the board, expressed frustration that the unsheltered portion had to be cancelled due to federal issues, but said with the collaboration between various agencies for the sheltered portion, this year’s data will not be severely impacted.

She praised the county’s work on reducing homelessness, saying she hasn’t received the same level of calls from those facing a shelter crisis as she has in the past. She noted the work of PADS Lake County, which is renovating a former Waukegan hotel into a fixed-site shelter with room for about 240 people.

Ross Cunningham said she is not concerned about next year’s count. While she does have concerns about federal funding, what happens next may be impacted by the upcoming elections, she said.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/09/lake-county-homeless-count-2/