People of Progress
Redding Shasta Homeless Continuum of Care Council -- COC
Homeless & Imminently At-Risk of Homelessness
2009 One-Day & 2008 Year-Long Surveys
The COC meets monthly and works collaboratively to help the community better serve the wide spectrum of homeless people in our area. You can find more information on services and organizations at: www.shastacoc.org
POP designed and coordinates this survey program because we believe that collecting in-depth information about local homelessness allows programs to better serve their client/customers. Facts about the range of needs and characteristics of people who are homeless, are essential to educate the community. With good information, we can develop and implement good strategies so that the incidence and duration of homelessness is lessened. With good information we have found out that many stereotypes are incorrect.
Problems that face individuals and families who are homeless are severe and often complicated but they can be solved. People can pull themselves out of homelessness with the help of targeted community resources and a lot of their own hard work.
2009 Point in Time One-day Homeless Survey Facts:
On January 29, 2009, the COC in Shasta County surveyed homeless persons in camps, staying on the street, in cars, in shelters, in transitional housing or other institutional facilities as well as those who visited our food bank/resource center and other social service agencies. We counted 388 households comprising 734 individuals (233 of them were children). 98 households comprising 145 total individuals (19 children) were not sheltered but were camping, sleeping in vehicles or otherwise on the street.
2008 Point in Time One-day Homeless Survey Facts:
On January 30, 2008, the COC in Shasta County surveyed homeless persons in camps, staying on the street, in cars, in shelters, in transitional housing or other institutional facilities as well as those who visited food banks and other social service agencies. We counted 342 households comprising 486 individuals (109 of them were children). 65 households (19%) comprising 80 total individuals (4 children) were not sheltered but were camping, sleeping in vehicles or otherwise on the street.
2007 Point in Time One-day Homeless Survey Facts:
On January 18, 2007 throughout the United States, communities surveyed homeless persons in their area who were in camps, staying on the street, in cars, in shelters, in transitional housing or other institutional facilities as well as those who visited food banks and other social service agencies. In Shasta County, COC teams counted 256 households comprising 540 individuals (205 of them were children). Of these, 31 households (12%) comprising 46 total individuals (6 children) were not sheltered but were camping, sleeping in vehicles or otherwise on the street.
2008 Survey Key Facts from the Year-long Survey
The COC’s year-round homeless survey gathers information on clients from 15 different agencies throughout the year. Surveys are filled out on each household who are homeless or are imminently at-risk of becoming homeless, then turned in to People of Progress who coordinates this project, tabulates surveys, removes duplicates, and generates reports. Here are some key facts. Figures are for households unless noted otherwise.
2,128 total individuals representing 1,582 households were homeless at some point during the year and
991 total individuals representing 422 households were imminently at-risk of becoming homeless.
469 children were homeless and 439 children were imminently at-risk of becoming homeless.
The total of homeless and at-risk children was 908.
Of households that were homeless, 73% (1,154) had only one-person and 14% (228) had children
245 heads of households would be classified under the federal definition of “Chronically Homeless”
(homeless continuously for more than a year or 4 or more times in the past 3 years COMBINED with having a physical or mental disability)
Most households (61%) were homeless at the time they answered the survey for three months or less.
(44 % households were homeless one month or less, 17% households were 2 to 3 months, 15% 4 to 11 months, 20% homeless one year or more )
Reasons for becoming homeless (multiple reasons could be chosen by respondents): loss of job (27%) loss of income (20%), roommate problems (12%), domestic violence (10%), released from jail or prison (11%) 507 loss of income, 427 loss of job, 25 loss of child’s income, 12 welfare sanctions, 11 welfare time limits, 93 divorce, 162 domestic violence, 96 substance abuse, 33 utility bills, 119 medical bills or health problems, 94 mental health, 176 eviction, 10 fire / disaster, 179 released from jail or prison, 10 cost of child support, 25 foreclosure, 64 rent increase or building sold.
49% have lived in Shasta County for 2 or more years, and 50% have relatives in Shasta County.
39% were staying in a shelter at the time they answered the survey questions, 7% in motels,
24% were on the street, camping or in a vehicle and 23% were temporarily staying with friends or family.
Someone in their household had drug or alcohol issues 20%, someone had a mental illness 25%, a physical disability 19%, had experienced domestic violence 17%, was on parole / probation 25%, had a developmental disability 4%, was urgently or chronically ill 3%, was a senior 2%, was a veteran 6%, was in or had been in foster care 9%, someone in their household was pregnant 3%.
COC 2008 Domestic Violence Facts:
184 (12%) Homeless Head of Households are or were victims of domestic violence. They had 121 kids.
97 Head of Households at-risk of becoming homeless are or were victims of domestic violence. They had 135 kids.
162 (10%) households cited domestic violence a cause of their becoming homeless
COC 2008 Veteran Facts:
20 Heads of Household who were at-risk of becoming homeless were veteran, 7 households had children (19 kids total)
97 Homeless Heads of Household were veterans. 77 were single individuals, 8 households had children (9 kids total)
12 homeless HOH veterans were female (4 households with one child each)
2007 Key Facts from the Year-long Survey
The COC’s year-round homeless survey gathers information on clients from 15 different agencies throughout the year. Surveys are filled out on each household who are homeless or are imminently at-risk of becoming homeless, then turned in to People of Progress who coordinates this project, tabulates surveys, removes duplicates, and generates reports. Here are some key facts. Figures are for households unless noted otherwise.
3,316 total individuals representing 1,986 households were homeless at some point during the year and
2,332 total individuals representing 939 households were imminently at-risk of becoming homeless.
1,092 children were homeless and 995 children were imminently at-risk of becoming homeless.
The total of homeless and at-risk children was 2,087.
Of households that were homeless, 61% (1,203) had only one-person and 29% (569) had children
211 heads of households would be classified under the federal definition of “Chronically Homeless”
(homeless continuously for more than a year or 4 or more times in the past 3 years COMBINED with having a physical or mental disability)
Most households (57%) were homeless at the time they answered the survey for three months or less.
(38 % households were homeless one month or less, 19% households were 2 to 3 months, 21% homeless one year or more )
Top three reasons for becoming homeless: job loss (24%), loss of other income (14%) domestic violence (14%). 536 loss of income, 463 loss of job, 30 loss of child’s income, 15 welfare sanctions, 23 welfare time limits, 135 divorce,
276 domestic violence, 160 substance abuse, 52 utility bills, 193 medical bills or health problems, 126 mental health, 265 eviction,
32 fire / disaster / building condemned, 214 released from jail or prison, 20 cost of child support, 14 foreclosure, 52 rent increase or building sold.
54% have lived in Shasta County for 2 or more years, and 55% have relatives in Shasta County.
26% were staying in a shelter at the time they answered the survey questions, 12% in motels,
31% were on the street, camping or in a vehicle and 25% were temporarily staying with friends or family.
21% drug or alcohol issues, 29% mental health issues, 28% physical disability, 22% domestic violence, 24% parole / probation, 5% developmental disability, 2% wheelchair, 4% urgently or chronically ill, 2% senior, 8% veteran, .5 % HIV/AIDS, 9% foster care current or former, 5% pregnant.
COC 2007 Survey Domestic Violence Facts:
474 (24%) Head of Household (HOH) who are homeless OR at-risk are or were victims of domestic violence
(These households had 547 total kids, 268 under 5 years old)
289 (25%) homeless HOH are or were victims of domestic violence (275 were kids with 131 of them under 5 years old)
678 homeless households and at-risk listed domestic violence – past or present-- as applying to them OR someone in their household.
276 (14%) homeless households cited domestic violence as a cause of their becoming homeless
COC 2007 Survey Veteran Facts:
193 total Head of Household (HOH) were homeless AND at-risk who are veterans
141 homeless HOH were veterans. 108 were single individuals, 18 were households that had children with 37 kids total.
14 homeless HOH veterans were female (7 households with 19 children)
32 HOH who are homeless AND at-risk are female veterans (20 of these households have children, 37 total kids)
COC Year-long Homeless Survey Multi-Year Figures
|
||||||
Individuals |
Households |
Children |
Single |
Children in |
Not |
|
Individual |
Household |
Sheltered |
||||
Households |
||||||
2009 |
||||||
Homeless |
2,450 |
1,734 |
533 |
76% |
17% |
25% |
At-Risk |
1,827 |
788 |
689 |
|||
2008 |
||||||
Homeless |
2128 |
1582 |
469 |
73% |
14% |
24% |
At-Risk |
991 |
422 |
439 |
|||
2007 |
||||||
Homeless |
3316 |
1986 |
1092 |
61% |
29% |
31% |
At-Risk |
2332 |
939 |
995 |
|||
2006 |
||||||
Homeless |
2584 |
1484 |
956 |
57% |
30% |
25% |
At-Risk |
1405 |
696 |
607 |
|||
2005 |
||||||
Homeless |
2090 |
1356 |
660 |
57% |
25% |
36% |
At-Risk |
1429 |
524 |
264 |
|||
2004 |
||||||
Homeless |
3598 |
2300 |
1121 |
69% |
27% |
46% |
At-Risk |
3187 |
1260 |
1456 |
|||
2003 |
||||||
Homeless |
3362 |
1827 |
1186 |
56% |
32% |
33% |
At-Risk |
3570 |
1216 |
1621 |
|||
Services available locally for homeless people include:
- Food, meals, clothing, medical care, showers, bus passes, public assistance income, and legal services
- Shelter for men, women and children.
- Domestic Violence Shelter for women and their children
- Veterans’ Recovery Project, group living for homeless vets.
- Faith-based transitional living group homes.
- Motel vouchers for people unable to stay in local shelters due to medical or mental health or physical reasons.
- Medical care and outreach to homeless persons through Shasta Community Health Center’s HOPE van.
- Outreach counseling and casework services for severely and persistently mentally ill homeless persons are offered through Shasta County Mental Health’s SHIFT Program.
- Shasta County Housing & Community Action Program now has a housing caseworker working withthe SHIFT Program to offer homeless persons with mental illness HUD housing vouchers and housing casework.
- Transitional Living program for homeless families.
* Comparing these findings year to year to see if the homeless population numbers went up or down is unfortunately not precise because of agencies' participation varies.