AURORA | For the second year in a row, the number of homeless people living on Aurora’s streets has declined as the city’s shelter capacity has increased.

The 2026 Point in Time Count, an annual snapshot of homelessness in the seven-county Denver metro area, reports in Aurora there were 638 people in shelters on the night of the January count and 194 unsheltered people. Also, for the first time in at least four years, there were no unsheltered families in the city.

From last year to this year, Aurora’s sheltered homeless population increased by 72% while the unsheltered count dropped 24%. 

The annual Point-in-Time count is a federally required census conducted each January by volunteers and outreach workers to measure homelessness and guide funding and planning decisions. The count was conducted Jan. 26 this year.

Because the Point-in-Time count is done on a single night numerous variables may impact the count from year to year and could result in undercounting. The Metro Denver Homeless Initiative, which oversees the count, does not recommend trending data year-over-year.

Data for Arapahoe County as a whole shows similar trends to the city. 

Arapahoe County saw a 35% drop in unsheltered homelessness in its annual Point-in-Time count. No unsheltered families were identified during the one-night count, compared with 14 families counted in 2025.

The report recorded 205 people living unsheltered — including on streets, in vehicles or in other places not meant for habitation — down from 314 in 2025. The reduction of 109 people marked one of the largest year-over-year declines in recent years, according to county officials.

City and county officials attributed much of the improvement to expanded outreach and shelter capacity, including the opening of two so-called navigation centers in 2025. The centers provide what officials describe as “low-barrier” shelter, case management and housing assistance for unhoused people across the metro area.

Aurora opened its center last fall, which is located in Adams County, near Chambers Road and I-70. Bridge House Ready to Work opened last year, too, in Englewood.

City spokesperson Joe Rubino said Aurora’s numbers are consistent with what the city expected with the opening of the Aurora Regional Navigation Campus, which is the largest shelter in the state. He said intake data from the campus shows it’s serving people from across the metro area.

On the night of the Point-in-Time count, 362 people spent the night at the Aurora campus, which accounts for 57% of the sheltered people included in the city’s numbers.

“The city of Aurora is committed to helping those experiencing housing insecurity and making sure homelessness in our city is brief and nonrecurring,” Rubino said.

Arapahoe County Community Resources Director Kathy Smith said in a statement that the rise in sheltered numbers reflected efforts to move people indoors rather than worsening street homelessness.

“When we see more people in shelter, that’s the system working,” Smith said.

In Arapahoe County, veteran and youth homelessness went down. Overall veteran homelessness fell 15%, from 47 people to 40, while the number of unsheltered veterans dropped 46%, from 28 to 15, according to the report.

Youth homelessness also decreased. The number of unsheltered youths counted across the county fell from 21 to seven, a 67% decline. Overall youth homelessness, including sheltered and unsheltered individuals, dropped from 32 to 26.

County officials also reported a sharp decline in newly unsheltered individuals. The number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness for the first time fell from 150 to 55, a 63% decrease.

“These results reflect the hard work of our county team, our community partners, and the nonprofit organizations working every day to connect our most vulnerable neighbors with housing and services,” Arapahoe County Commission Chairperson Leslie Summey said in a statement.

In Adams County, the data is more plateaued and people are more likely to be unsheltered. The January report found 340 sheltered people and 392 unsheltered people, though there were no unsheltered families.

Last year, Adams County had 422 sheltered people and 308 unsheltered people, including 19 unsheltered families.

Adams County Community Safety and Wellbeing Department Director Matt Rivera said Point-in-Time data and the county’s McKinney-Vento and Homelessness Management Information System data indicate that homelessness in the county has been relatively stable since 2024.

“Taken together, these trends suggest that local programs are making progress in helping people secure housing, while also underscoring the ongoing challenge of youth housing instability and ‘invisible homelessness,’ including individuals and families who are doubled up,” Rivera said in a statement.

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