Status of Veteran Homelessness in North Carolina Terry Allebaugh, Ending Veteran Homelessness coordinator Presented at Nc Housing Conference, October 12, 2016

What Does Ending Homelessness Mean? “Every community will have a systematic response in place that ensures homelessness is prevented whenever possible, or if it can’t be prevented, it is a rare, brief, and non-recurring experience.” From “Opening Doors: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness” adopted in 2010 to implement the passage of the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009

Achieving the Goal of Ending Veteran Homelessness 1. The community has identified all veterans experiencing homelessness. 2. The community provides shelter immediately to any veteran experiencing unsheltered homelessness who wants it 3. The community only provides service-intensive transitional housing in limited instances. 4.The community has capacity to assist veterans to swiftly move into permanent housing. 5. The community has resources, plans, and system capacity in place should any veteran become homeless, or be at risk of homelessness in the future.

Meeting the Benchmarks October 10, 2016 Mayors’ Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness, June 2014

Organizing North Carolina to End Veteran Homelessness Task Force to End Veteran Homelessness Rapid Results Institute Rural Homelessness

Homeless Veteran Population Trends

Understanding Veteran Homelessness Through Multiple Data Sources By-Name Lists Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) Point-in-Time Count Communities have historically tracked the size of their local homeless populations through an annual enumeration called the Point-in-Time Count. On a single night in January, homeless service providers and volunteer teams count the number of homeless people in their community. Both sheltered and unsheltered homeless people are counted. Sheltered homeless people include those staying in emergency and transitional housing and are more readily counted because they are staying with a homeless service provider. To count those sleeping unsheltered (either sleeping outside, in vehicles, dilapidated buildings, or other places not meant for human habitation), communities deploy teams of volunteers, often led by street outreach workers to canvass the community. Communities have been conducting the PIT count for several years, so it provides our best estimate of how the size of the homeless population has changed over time. However, changes in the ways communities conduct their PIT count and other factors like the weather mean the PIT count is not exactly comparable from year to year, so we should look at it for big trends rather than small changes. It also does not capture any information on who cycles in and out of homelessness throughout the year. Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) Data is administrative data entered by homeless service providers for the clients that they serve. It contains demographic and socioeconomic information as well as information on the services they received and their housing situations. HMIS provides more nuanced information about who is served throughout the year and allows us to understand how long people stay in homeless services and how often they return to the homelessness. However, these data do not capture those who do not seek services. Though HMIS data for street outreach contacts is improving, the data currently may still miss those who are unsheltered and not engaging with services, making it an undercount of total homelessness. What many communities are moving toward, particularly around efforts to end homelessness among certain subpopulations, are by-name lists. Unlike the PIT Count, which provides a 1-time snap shot, by-name lists are working, regularly updated rosters of homeless veterans in the community, so you always know how many veterans are homeless in your community. Most communities use excel spreadsheets for these lists, which make them more accessible to providers/local players who do not use HMIS. The lists include input from homeless service providers, VA staff, SSVF staff and other involved organizations. The lists are built to track identification, housing offers and service provision, and progress on USICH measures to determine progress toward ending homelessness and coordinate care. Because they are lists set up for the express purposes of service coordination and tracking, they are very useful tools for communities. We expect more and more communities to adopt this model going forward.

19% reduction in the number of NC homeless veterans in 2016 The number of homeless veterans in the state dropped to a record low in 2016. Despite a spike in 2012, the size of North Carolina’s homeless veteran population stayed relatively stable at about 1,100 veterans between 2008 and 2015, according to the annual Point-in-Time (PIT) Count. However, 2016 PIT data revealed that the number of homeless veterans fell to 888, a 19 percent decrease from 2015.

Number of chronically homeless veterans also decreased dramatically Chronically homeless veterans have been homeless for a long duration and have a disability They are considered among the most vulnerable Size of the population decreased by 45 percent between the 2015 and 2016 PIT Counts. We have also seen a dramatic drop in the number of chronically homeless veterans. To be chronically homeless, a veteran must be homeless for at least a year continuously or be homeless for at least a year cumulatively over a 3 year period and have a disability. They are considered among the most vulnerable. In North Carolina, the number of chronically homeless veterans fell from 177 in 2016 to 98 in 2016, according to the Point-in-Time Count, or about a 45 percent decrease.

The rate of homelessness among veterans is also down The rate of homelessness among North Carolina’s veterans, which measures how common it is for a veteran in the state to be homeless, has also dropped to record low levels in 2016. Overall, North Carolina veterans experience homelessness at lower rates than nationally,. In the US, between 22 and 25 out of every 10,000 veterans were homeless between 2013 and 2015. In North Carolina over that period, the rate was between 14 and 15. However, In 2016, this rate of homelessness among NC veterans dropped to 11.5. This tells us that the decrease in the size of the homeless veteran population we saw in the PIT Count is not due solely to changes in the size of the state’s veteran population overall.

Most homeless veterans are sheltered, and many are in transitional housing Overall, the vast majority of North Carolina’s homeless veterans stayed in a sheltered location (in an emergency shelter or transitional housing project). In the 2016 PIT count, 82 percent of homeless veterans were sheltered and only 18 percent were unsheltered. Though national 2016 PIT count data are not yet available, 2015 PIT data suggests that North Carolina homeless veterans are more likely to be sheltered than homeless veterans elsewhere. In the US as a whole, 66 percent of homeless veterans were sheltered and 34 percent were unsheltered, according to the 2015 PIT count. The majority of sheltered homeless veterans in North Carolina were staying in transitional housing programs. In the 2016 PIT count, 406 out of the 888 homeless veterans (46 percent) were in transitional housing. For those who may not be familiar, Transitional housing provides homeless people a place to stay in conjunction with supportive services for up to 24 months. Those in transitional housing are still considered homeless during their stay. Importantly for North Carolina, all beds funded by the VA’s Grant and Per Diem program are considered transitional housing, so all vets in GPD beds are considered homeless. Because the state has 391 GPD beds that are consistently occupied, it is likely that the vast majority of those homeless and in transitional housing in the 2016 PIT were in GPD.

82% of homeless veterans live in urban areas, 18% in rural counties Rural Areas (18%) Forsyth (8%) Orange (1%) Durham (8%) Wake (9%) Guilford (7%) Buncombe (22%) Cumberland (5%) In terms of their distribution across the state, most homeless veterans were concentrated in a few urban areas, but a substantial share live in the North Carolina’s rural areas. As you can see from this map, Buncombe County (Asheville) had the most homeless veterans (196 veterans, or 22 percent of all homeless veterans in the state), according to the 2016 PIT Count, which is driven by the 172 of GPD beds  in that county. Mecklenburg County (Charlotte), the state’s largest population center, had the second largest homeless veteran population (136 veterans or about 17 percent of the state’s homeless veterans). Wake County (Raleigh), Durham County, (Durham) Forsyth County (Winston-Salem), and Guilford County (Greensboro and High Point) each had between 7 and 9 percent of the state’s homeless veterans. Cumberland (Fayetteville) and the Wilmington area each had around 5-6 percent of the population. Despite these concentrations of homeless veterans in the state’s more urban areas, many homeless veterans live in the rural areas. About 18 percent of homeless veterans identified in the 2016 PIT Count—nearly 1 in 5—lived in the state’s 89 more rural counties, which is comparable to the share of veterans overall living in rural areas of the state. NOTES: The 89 rural counties include those counties in the North Carolina Balance of State CoC, The Gastonia/Cleveland, Gaston, Lincoln Counties CoC, and the Northwest North Carolina CoC. The number of North Carolina veterans living in rural areas comes from: US Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Rural Health. 2015. Office of Rural Health Annual Report: Thrive 2015. Washington, DC: US Department of Veterans Affairs. The total number of veterans in the state comes from the VA’s veteran population projections 2014. Mecklenburg (17%) Brunswick, New Hanover, Pender (6%)

2016- 2017 Activities Support Balance of State (79 counties) with ending rural vet homelessness Support communities with landlord incentive programs Conduct a summit for Grant Per Diem providers Encourage development of affordable rental housing Coordinate and connect housing and service organizations

Piedmont: Rowan plus Davidson, Cabarrus, Stanly, Union

What can you do? Build affordable housing for veterans Target % of units for veterans Connect with local efforts working to end homelessness Advocate for homeless veteran preference in Public Housing Participate or initiate landlord recruitment activities

Contact Information Terry Allebaugh NC Department of Military and Veteran Affairs NC Coalition to End Homelessness Terry.allebaugh@doa.nc.gov 919-812-4274