Boulder County counted 619 homeless in 2026
The January count found 37% fewer people unsheltered than in 2025 and 22% more people in families; all counted families had shelter.
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Boulder County counted 619 people experiencing homelessness in January 2026. The unsheltered count fell 37% from 2025, while the number of people in families experiencing homelessness rose 22%, county staff reported to commissioners Oct. 13 in a presentation by homelessness systems manager Heidi Grove.
Grove said 80% of people counted were sheltered and 20% unsheltered, and that all counted families had shelter. The count is a one-night snapshot, not a tally of everyone who experiences homelessness over a year; the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative explains the count’s scope and limits.
The increase among people in families was 34 people, not 34 households, Grove said. Although the family count rose from 2025, it was 22% lower in 2026 than in 2024. Grove said 2026 was the first count that allowed a three-year comparison after changes during the COVID period. Over that 2024–26 span, she reported chronic homelessness down 21%, people new to homelessness down 53%, veterans down 44% and youth down 29%.
Grove said the count includes people sleeping in cars, recreational vehicles or safe-parking locations as unsheltered. She also said turnaways at the Hope and All Roads shelters were significantly down and that lack of access to shelter beds was not why people remained unsheltered.
Staff also described bridge-housing placements, outreach in Nederland, supportive services and a revised rapid-rehousing strategy supported by $130,000 in state funds.