The 2007 Annual Homeless Assessment Report: A Report to Congress on Homelessness in America Paul Dornan, Office of PD&R, HUD Jill Khadduri, Abt Associates Inc. September 22, 2008

2008 HMIS Training: Setting the Standard - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 2 The AHAR Report in Brief National estimates based on a sample of data from the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) – sheltered homeless people and their use of emergency shelter and transitional housing Supplementary national estimates from 2007 Continuum of Care applications –sheltered and unsheltered homeless people

2008 HMIS Training: Setting the Standard - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 3 What’s Special about this AHAR? First report based on an entire year of data to provide national estimates of numbers of homeless people and their characteristics Baseline for year to year comparisons New information about long-term shelter users Community-level information on the number of homeless persons

2008 HMIS Training: Setting the Standard - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 4 Defining Homelessness Literally homeless: shelters, transitional housing, or street The AHAR report provides estimates of people who are literally homeless—the definition used for HUD McKinney-Vento programs

2008 HMIS Training: Setting the Standard - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 5 HMIS Data Used for AHAR Estimates 98 jurisdictions: 61 sample sites plus 37 contributing sites One year period: October 2006-September 2007 Records for 284,000 people (counting each person once) Aggregate data was provided by AHAR jurisdictions in predefined tables and then analyzed by the study team

2008 HMIS Training: Setting the Standard - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 6 Sheltered Homeless Persons: October 2006 to September ,589,000 people are living in emergency shelter or transitional housing during the study period 70% are alone; 30% in families 77% are in principal cities 13% of homeless adults are veterans

2008 HMIS Training: Setting the Standard - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 7 Sheltered Homeless Individuals 1,115,000 people are homeless alone 69% are adult men 55% are between 32 and 50; only 4% are over age 62 57% are minority; 33% are African American 40% are disabled

2008 HMIS Training: Setting the Standard - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 8 Prior Housing of Sheltered Homeless Individuals 43% were already homeless (came from another shelter or the streets) For those who did not come from shelter or the streets, many were staying with family/friends and in institutional settings Living Situation of Sheltered Individuals Not Homeless before Program Entry Sources: Homeless Management Information System data, October 2006–September 2007.

2008 HMIS Training: Setting the Standard - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 9 Use of Residential Services by Sheltered Homeless Individuals Emergency Shelter 82% used emergency shelter only 40% stay a week or less; 70% stay no more than 1 month Long-term users (in shelter 6+ months) are more likely to be African American and over age 50 Transitional Housing 12% used transitional housing only; 6% used both TH & ES Length of stay is longer than for emergency housing – about three months

2008 HMIS Training: Setting the Standard - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 10 Sheltered Homeless Families with Children 474,000 homeless people – adults and children – in 131,000 households during the study year Typical family is a mother and 2 children More than half of homeless children are under age 6 55% of sheltered homeless family members are African American

2008 HMIS Training: Setting the Standard - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 11 Prior Housing of Sheltered Homeless Families with Children 4% came from the streets; 27% came from another shelter For those who did not come from shelter or the streets, the majority were staying with family/friends Source: Homeless Management Information System data, October 2006–September Living Situation of Sheltered Persons in Families Not Homeless Before Program Entry

2008 HMIS Training: Setting the Standard - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 12 Use of Residential Services by Sheltered Homeless Families with Children Emergency Shelter 69% used emergency housing only 23% stay a week or less But typical length of stay is 30 days (longer than for individuals) Transitional Housing 31% spent some time in transitional housing during the year Typical length of stay is 151 days

2008 HMIS Training: Setting the Standard - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Point in Time Estimate: Sheltered and Unsheltered Homeless Data submitted via annual CoC funding applications Communities estimated people in shelter and on streets, in abandoned buildings, or in other places not meant for human habitation Almost certainly an overestimate because some communities included precariously housed people

2008 HMIS Training: Setting the Standard - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Point-in-Time Counts Source:2006 and 2007 Continuum of Care Application: Exhibit 1, CoC Pont-in-Time Homeless Population and Subpopulations Charts. 60% 40% 63% 37% Point-in-Time Count of Homeless Individuals and Persons in Families, January 2007

2008 HMIS Training: Setting the Standard - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 15 Chronically Homeless Persons 124,000 persons were chronically homeless on a night in January 2007 (18% of all homeless persons). Source:2007 Continuum of Care Application: Exhibit 1, CoC Point-in-Time Homeless Population and Subpopulations Chart. Point in Time Count of Chronically Homeless Persons

2008 HMIS Training: Setting the Standard - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 16 Highlights of the 2007 AHAR The number of homeless persons on a single night has dropped, including the number of chronically homeless. For most, homelessness is short-term. Homelessness is largely an urban phenomenon. People who are long-term stayers are older and more likely to be disabled. 474,000 persons in families are homeless; younger families with pre-school children are at greatest risk. Slight uptick in the number of homeless people who became homeless because of eviction/foreclosure.