Families in Two Calgary Shelters: Who are they, How long  do they stay, What happens next

Introduction ‘Family’ is defined as a parent(s)/guardian(s) with dependent children in their custody, or a pregnant mother. In Calgary, families who are experiencing homelessness are predominantly served by 2 Family Shelters: Brenda’s House Inn from the Cold (IFTC) Patty Brenda’s House is an emergency shelter located in SW Calgary in a residential community close to public transit. The shelter offers emergency shelter for 14 families with a capacity of 60 individuals. IFTC is an emergency shelter located in downtown Calgary. This shelter offers emergency shelter for 27 families with a maximum capacity of 120 individuals. In addition, IFTC offers emergency shelter for families through Community Inns that provide mats and/or cots for about 30 individuals per night and are run by volunteers from faith-based organizations.

Calgary Point-in-time Counts (2012 & 2014) The number of families experiencing homelessness increased by 31% Homeless families represent an increased proportion of the overall homeless population 2012 – 5% 2014 – 14% Patty Homeless families increase by 31% In 2012 homeless families made up 5% of total homeless population In 2014 homeless families represent 14% of the overall homeless population

Family Shelter Data April 1, 2012 – Sept 30, 2014 # unique ID’s: 726 # ID’s Brenda’s House Only: 65 # ID’s at IFTC Only: 607 # ID’s at Both: 54 As of the November 30, 2014 there were 102 families from this study who were still accessing shelter services Kim Brenda’s House, Inn From the Cold and the Calgary Homeless Foundation (Meaghan Bell(Manager, Research and Policy), Ali Jadidzadeh, Linda McLean(IFTC) and Patty Kilgallon(Brenda’s House)) have been collaborating on a length of stay study that currently covers the time span April 2012-September 30, 2014. This study will continue to the end of March 31, 2015. Data in presentation based on HMIS Shelter Intake data from the 2 family shelters All the data is self-reported by the client Data was collected within 72 hours of first accessing shelter (normally first day of access)

Demographics Gender Female – 91% Male – 9% Age Mean: 32 Min: 16 & Max: 61 Family Size Mean: 2.92 Min: 1 & Max 10 11% were Pregnant Women 75% were Canadian Citizens 11% were involved with Child Protection 40% were New to the City Kim Demographics based on assigned Head of Household Family size is actually very fluid and can change often Strategies for working with this population need to include the children as they make up a large portion of it

Ethnicity Aboriginal – 45% African/Caribbean – 22% Caucasian – 21% Other – 12% Patty Ethnicity of families very different than singles Families are highly Aboriginal & Immigrant populations

Primary Residence Prior to Shelter Couch Surfing – 41% Emergency Shelter – 14% Renting (unsubsidized) – 21% Renting (subsidized) – 6% Own Home – 3% Hotel / Motel – 4% Outside (sleeping in car, etc.) – 2% Patty

Total Days Stayed Kim Average Length of stay: 90 (Min: 1; Max: 648; Median: 43.5)

Episodes 1 Episode – 648 (89%) 2 Episodes – 61 (8%) Kim - Definition of episode is consistent with Cluster analysis completed on Single shelter data as well as Ontario based university team Aubry et al., on both their single and family analysis. A new episode is defined by a 30 day, or more absent from an emergency shelter. For example, 5 nights in shelter, 10 days away from shelter and 20 days in shelter is collapsed into one episode and days are presented as cumulative. A family who was in shelter 10 days and then away for 35 days and returns for 10 days would be classified as having two episodes, as they were away from the shelter for more than 30 days.

Cluster Analysis Clusters Transitional Episodic Chronic Sample Size 557 72 97 Percentage of Clients 76.7 9.9 13.4 No. of Episodes 1.00 (0.00) 2.31 (0.62) 1.06 (0.24) Total No. of Days 43.76 (46.08) 120.57 ( 116.15) 334.85 (105.00) No. of days per episode 53.18 (46.34) 320.80 (102.78) No. of days per episode (%) 1-30 298 26 -- 31-60 87 22 61-90 66 10 91 or > 106 14 Family Size (including family head) 1,523 274 325 No. of occupied shelter beds (only heads) 24,376 8,681 32,480 No. of occupied shelter beds (Whole Family) 37,124,648 2,378,594 10,556,000 Percentage of occupied shelter beds 74% 5% 21% Note1: Numbers in the parantheses are standard errors Kim Applied a K-Mean Cluster analysis. Similar to Kuhn & Culhane study (1998) and Aubry et al study (2013) Transitional = few episodes & short stays per episode Episodic = many episodes & short stays per episode Chronic = few episodes & long stays per episode

What’s Next Compare year on year shelter usage looking for trends Track changes in family size Examine ways in which length of stay data can be used to target clients for various programs and services Patty We know family homelessness has grown so looking at each year individually and side by side should show us some trends

Contact Information Patty Kilgallon, BN, RN Chief Executive Officer The Children's Cottage Society #204, 2120 Kensington Road NW Calgary, Alberta T2N 3R7 P: 403.283.4200 ext. 222 E: pkilgallon@childrenscottage.ab.ca Kim Desjarlais Manager of Data and Research Inn from the Cold #106, 110 – 11 Ave SE Calgary, Alberta T2G 0X5 C: 403.473.5582 E: kim.desjarlais@innfromthecold.org