EACH YEAR FOR a few frigid days in January volunteers fan out across cities, towns and rural areas to try to count every homeless person in America. The method is admittedly flawed: cities do their counting in different ways, and many homeless people are transient or hide away in subterranean tunnels and under highway overpasses. Researchers think the result is an undercount. But this “point in time” survey offers the most complete picture of homelessness that exists in America today. The results for January 2024, released on December 27th, offer bleak news: the number of homeless people in the country had risen to the highest level on record.