Introduction
This report on sheltered homeless persons is based on local data submitted to the 2008 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR). The AHAR is a report to the U.S. Congress on the extent and nature of homelessness in America, prepared by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It provides nationwide estimates of homelessness, including information about the demographic characteristics of homeless persons, service use patterns, and the capacity to house homeless persons. Once published, the 2008 AHAR will be found on HUD’s Homeless Resource Exchange (http://www.hudhre.info).
The AHAR Local Report is meant to be a resource for stakeholders in each community to view their data in a variety of user friendly tables and charts. The report is based primarily on Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) data about homeless persons who used emergency shelter, transitional housing or permanent supportive housing programs during the 12-month period between Monday, October 1, 2007 to Tuesday, September 30, 2008. The data are collected in six categories: Persons in Families in Emergency Shelter, Individuals in Emergency Shelter, Persons in Families in Transitional Housing, Individuals in Transitional Housing, Persons in Families in Permanent Supportive Housing and Individuals in Permanent Supportive Housing
All data are based on unduplicated counts, such that each person is counted only once, regardless of how many different programs the person used. Data on length of stay represent the cumulative length of stay for each person within a particular category.
For communities that have all emergency shelter, transitional housing and permanent supportive housing providers using HMIS, the total counts reflect the numbers that those providers reported for the 12 month reporting period. For communities where not all emergency shelter, transitional housing and permanent supportive housing providers are using HMIS, this report provides estimates of the homeless individuals and persons in families in emergency shelter, transitional housing and permanent supportive housing programs. The estimate is an “extrapolated count” and is based on the assumption that beds located in programs that do not participate in HMIS are occupied at the same rate and with the same amount of overlap as beds located in HMIS-participating programs.
Data were only included in the national AHAR if HMIS participation rates for a particular category exceeded 50 percent of total beds. The extent to which extrapolated data are representative of the entire community depends on the validity of the assumption that non-participating programs are similar to participating programs. Some programs may target specific sub-populations (such as veterans or women), and their inclusion or exclusion may skew the overall values in particular questions. This report does not include or purport to extrapolate about persons that are served by “victim service providers” including rape crisis centers, battered women’s shelters, domestic violence transitional housing programs, and other programs whose primary mission is to provide services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. This report also does not include those who were living in places not meant for human habitation, such as on the street, in hotels or motels, or in doubled-up living situations, unless these persons also used emergency shelter or transitional housing.
The report includes the following sections:
The Estimated Homeless Counts during a One-Year Period table shows the total estimated yearly count for each reporting period, extrapolated point-in-time counts, estimated utilization and turnover rates, and estimated counts by household type.
Further explanation of the extrapolated counts can be found in the Detailed Derivation of Estimated Homeless Counts table. This table explains the steps used to derive the extrapolated counts and includes both a description and source for where the data comes from.
The Year (2008) to Year (2007) Estimated Homeless Counts during a One-Year Period table shows the percentage change of the 2008 community data compared to 2007 community data. Further explanation of the extrapolated counts can be found in the Year (2008) to Year (2007) Detailed Derivation of Estimated Homeless Counts table.
The Demographic Characteristics of Sheltered Homeless Persons table provides the percentage of persons reported in category by gender of adults, gender of children, ethnicity, race, age, persons by household size, veteran status (adults only) and disability status (adults only). Graphs for each category are below the table.
The Prior Living Situation of Persons Using Homeless Residential Services table shows the percentage breakdowns of the prior living situation data in each category. The data is categorized by living arrangement from the night before program entry. Living arrangements are categorized by homeless situations, housing situations, institutional settings, and other settings. This table also shows the percentage of the stability of the previous night’s living arrangements and the zip code of last permanent address. Graphs for each category are below the table.
The Length of Stay in Emergency Shelter, Transitional Housing and Permanent Supportive Housing for Families and Individuals table shows the percentage breakdown of length of stay for individuals and families in emergency shelter, transitional housing and permanent supportive housing. In each category an individual percentage is given for a specific length of stay as well as a cumulative percentage that show the individual percentages accruing. A graph comparing the categories is below the table.
The Long-Term Stay Demographics: Emergency Shelter Stay of More than 180 Days table provides the demographic percentages of all sheltered homeless persons in families, all sheltered persons in families who are long-term stayers, all sheltered homeless individuals, and all sheltered individuals who are long-term stayers. Demographic information is given for gender of adults, gender of children, ethnicity, age, persons by household size, veteran status (adults only) and disability status (adults only). Graphs for each category are below the table.
1 Families are defined as any household that includes at least one adult over 18 years old and one child who is younger than 18 years old. All other persons, including those in multi-person households consisting of only adults or only children, are reported as single individuals.
2 Other factors, such as nightly counts that far exceeded the reported number of beds in the community, may also have caused data to have been excluded from the AHAR.
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