Homelessness Facts
Homelessness in Utah
It is difficult to estimate the size of the homeless population due to difficulty in locating and counting people, high turnover of clients at agencies serving the people who are homeless and the large difference in number seeking services due to the time of the year.
It is estimated that there are at least 4,000 people across Utah who are homeless each night. The numbers have grown about 8% from 1991 to 1999, with the most rapid growth in the number of homeless children, which increased 53% from 1991 to 1999. These people are poor, staying on the streets, in a shelter or substance abuse treatment center, and most have no resources to meet their basic needs.
57% of the homeless population are single men, 9% single women, 14% adults in families and 18% children.
Sources: State of Utah Point in Time Homeless Count, Agency database records, SL County Continuum of Care from the SL County Homeless Coordinating Council, direct contacts with clients, poverty forums.
Chronic Homelessness
The vast majority of people who experience homelessness, do so for a relatively short period of time. A small percentage remain homeless for a long period of time, usually because of serious disabilities. These are the "chronically homeless"
We analyzed our shelter usage over a 5 year period and discovered that 14% of our shelter clients used more than 6 months of total shelter nights during that time, yet that small group used 63% of all the shelter nights we provided over that time. Please see the Shelter Night Usage graphs for more details.
This realization that only a small percentage of the homeless are using more than half of the resources has created the national Housing First approach, where the chronically homeless are assisted with housing first and then helped with their other problems through intense case management. This approach is less expensive than the traditional approach to chronic homelessness, and it opens up community resources for others in need.
An article was recently published in The New Yorker, called Million Dollar Murray, and the article provides an excellent illustration of the need for and sensibility of the housing first approach.
National Facts
The most commonly quoted national statistics state that there are approximately 3.5 million people, 1.35 million of them children, likely to experience homelessness in a given year. (Urban Institute 2000)
National data indicate that 32% of the homeless population have an alcohol problem, 13% have a drug problem, 25% have mental illness, and 12% have both mental illness and a substance abuse problem.
For more information on homelessness in our nation, contact the National Coalition for the Homeless at www.nationalhomeless.org.
Also, please look at our Homelessness Fact Sheet.