A myriad of Southern California counties have delayed their counting of the homeless following the winter surge in COVID-19 cases. The event—known as a point-in-time count—provides an annual snapshot of both sheltered and unsheltered homeless people and is required by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the last days of January of every other year, though some communities conduct it every year for better data. The count is conducted by volunteers and is usually done at night since people are more mobile during the daytime. Due to the pandemic, the count was canceled last year in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, and San Bernardino. Last year’s cancellation has caused officials to struggle with determining how the pandemic has affected the homeless population without accurate numbers. Last week, Orange and Los Angeles counties announced they received approval from HUD to postpone the counts for about …