This year, Spokane's annual homeless count won't include homeless people without shelter.
The federally required point-in-time count survey, to be held on Jan. 28, will only count people staying in homeless shelters or in transitional housing, the city says. That means hundreds of homeless individuals who are not in a shelter or transitional housing will be excluded.
The city says the reason for the change this year is to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Cupid Alexander, director of the city's neighborhoods, housing and human services division, says the decision was made with the safety of volunteers and homeless individuals in mind, adding that other communities have made the same decision.