The number of homeless residents in Cumberland County increased by three people in 2025, according to preliminary Point-in-Time Count data.
The PIT Count is an annual 24-hour census of homeless people in the county. This year’s count took place from Jan. 24 to Jan. 25 and documented 383 homeless residents, according to preliminary results presented to the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners last week.
However, staff from the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Continuum of Care (CoC), a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-authorized organization dedicated to ending homelessness, say the data is still a vast undercount of the number of homeless individuals in the county.
“This is just a 24-hour snapshot,” Debbie Brown, chair of CoC’s board of directors, told CityView. “There’s more to our homeless population than just that single 24-hour period can capture.”
PIT Count results showed decreasing homelessness in Cumberland County before this year. The 2024 PIT Count found 21% fewer homeless county residents than in 2023, decreasing from 474 homeless residents to 380. There was a single-person decrease from 2022 to 2023.
At the same time as the PIT Count was finding fewer homeless residents, the CoC was connecting an increasing number of homeless individuals with housing, meals and other services. From October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024, the CoC served 845 individuals with the help of organizations like the Manna Dream Center. That’s an increase of 44 individuals compared to the 801 people served by the CoC from 2022 to 2023, and 75 more than were served from 2021 to 2022.
Brown said a big reason why the PIT Count doesn’t perfectly capture Cumberland County’s total homeless population is that many homeless residents are employed, and were likely at work during survey hours. Nationally, between 40% and 60% of homeless people have a job, according to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.
“A lot of our homeless folks are working, and, even though they’re working, it does not provide enough monetary support for housing,” Brown said. “Those who are doing overnight or extended shifts, they were out working, and we may not have been able to see them.”
The PIT Count is based on data collected by teams of volunteers spread out across the county, surveying residents they observe to be homeless. It also includes counts conducted by homeless shelters.
If a homeless resident isn’t on the street or in their shelter bed during the PIT Count’s survey period, then they’re likely to be excluded from the results.
While the CoC is serving more and more homeless individuals, it is seeing a steady decline in the number of days residents are spending without shelter. From October 2021 to September 2024, the average number of cumulative days residents spent homeless decreased by over 63%, dropping from 205 days to 75 days.
“I’m very excited about what our service providers are doing for our community in getting those numbers of days homeless down,” Brown said. “We still have a lot of work to do. Even one day is too much.”
Shelter closures have complicated efforts to address homelessness in Cumberland County. The Salvation Army’s Pathway to Hope shelter abruptly closed on April 15, leaving Cumberland County without its largest emergency shelter and its only shelter for women and families.
In May, the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners voted to allocate up to $563,000 annually to the Salvation Army for shelter operations, and Aaron Goldfarb of the Salvation Army of the Sandhills Region told commissioners the shelter could reopen early this month. However, his wife and co-operator of the Salvation Army of the Sandhills Region, Jamie Goldfarb, told ABC11 this week the contract is still being finalized.
“I would imagine it’s still going to be at least 60 to 90 days because we still have to hire an entire staff,” she said in an interview with the station.
The closure of the Regency Inn at 521 Ramsey Street also displaced over 100 individuals, some of whom the CoC helped find temporary housing.
At the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners’ June 12 agenda session, Brown emphasized the critical need for the commissioners’ planned Unhoused Support Center. She told CityView that emergency shelter is one of the primary forms of assistance that homeless residents and residents at risk of homelessness are seeking from the CoC.
The county’s plans for the center include a 24-hour homeless shelter that could have 157 beds, as well as laundry and shower facilities. It will be on Hawley Lane next door to Fayetteville Technical Community College’s Education Center, one mile away from Fayetteville Cares — the City of Fayetteville’s homeless resource center, and where the CoC’s offices are located.
“What the county commissioners might do with the Unhoused Support Center has the potential to be a game changer for our community,” Brown said.
Originally set to open in 2027, commissioners temporarily paused the project last year to reevaluate the logistics of the center. Now unpaused, county commissioners met with the architecture firm LS3P on June 17 to discuss building plans. Commissioner Glenn Adams told CityView in 2024 that the board was keeping building costs around $15 million. They’ve since increased costs to $17 million, according to ABC11.
CityView Reporter Morgan Casey is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Morgan’s reporting focuses on health care issues in and around Cumberland County and can be supported through the News Foundation of Greater Fayetteville.
