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Douglas County reports near-zero unsheltered count in winter point-in-time; officials cite co-response
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Summary
Douglas County officials reported submitting 45 winter point-in-time surveys to MDHI with 0 defined encampments and only four people sleeping outdoors in unincorporated areas; county leaders credited co-response teams and discussed follow-up policy options including vehicle-camping ordinances.
Douglas County officials on March 12 reported winter point-in-time (PIT) data they have submitted to the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI), saying the county recorded very low unsheltered counts in unincorporated areas.
Rand Clark of the Department of Community Services said Douglas County submitted 45 surveys from the Jan. 26, 2026 night of counting and reported "0 encampments" as defined by their protocol. Clark gave the county-level breakdown the initiative submitted to MDHI: 23 people recorded in shelter or temporary housing, 18 people sleeping in vehicles, and four people sleeping outside. Clark said the submission will be verified and deduplicated at the regional level and the formally verified regional numbers are expected to be released later in the summer.
"45 was the number of surveys that we submitted. We had 0 encampments that we define ... we didn't have any large scale encampments," Clark said. He noted the county has seen reductions compared with earlier years and described outcomes from outreach: roughly 1,300 referrals led to about 333 people receiving services and approximately 3,000 service interactions during the reporting period, with about 18% moving to permanent housing and other outcomes including temporary placements and emergency shelter.
At the meeting the chair (a county commissioner) described the result as "actual 0" in unincorporated Douglas County and credited the countys co-response pairing (a clinician or navigator working alongside law enforcement) with enabling rapid outreach and service connections. "There is a reason for that," the commissioner said, praising the countys HEART team and navigator model.
Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weakley told the meeting that pairing navigators with law enforcement was critical for the local response and that, when people refuse help, the enforcement element helps ensure contacts are effective. The sheriff also said he would obtain a copy of a new Colorado Springs ordinance addressing camping in vehicles so county counsel could review whether a similar local ordinance would help further reduce car camping.
Why it matters: PIT counts are a snapshot used by HUD-designated continuums of care to track homelessness trends and allocate resources. Douglas County leaders said the submitted data show a sharp reduction in visible unsheltered homelessness in many unincorporated neighborhoods and emphasized the role of coordinated outreach and navigation teams in achieving those outcomes. MDHI will verify the submission and publish final, deduplicated regional counts later in the summer.
Next steps: MDHI will complete its verification and deduplication process; local officials will review camping/vehicle policies and consider ordinance models to address car camping if municipalities opt to pursue them.
