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

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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, 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)

5. 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

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

7. 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

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

9. 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.

10. 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)
( )
(105.00)
No. of days per episode
53.18 (46.34)
(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

11. 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

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