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Homelessness
Prevention Initiative
- During the past
year requests for emergency shelter increased in the survey cities by
an average of 13 percent, with 80 percent of the cities registering an
increase. Requests for shelter by homeless families alone increased
by15 percent, with 88 percent of the cities reporting an increase.
- An average of 30
percent of the requests for emergency shelter by homeless people
overall and 33 percent of the requests by homeless families alone are
estimated to have gone unmet during the last year. In 84 percent of the
cities, emergency shelters may have to turn away homeless families due
to lack of resources; in 72 percent they may also have to turn away
other homeless people.
- People remain
homeless an average of 5 months in the survey cities. Sixty percent of
the cities said that the length of time people are homeless increased
during the last year.
- Lack of affordable
housing leads the list of causes of homelessness identified by the city
officials. Other causes cited, in order of frequency, include mental
illness and the lack of needed services, low-paying jobs, substance
abuse and the lack of needed services, unemployment, domestic violence,
poverty and prison release.
- Officials estimate
that, on average, single men comprise 41 percent of the homeless
population, families with children 40 percent, single women 14 percent
and unaccompanied youth five percent. The homeless population is
estimated to be 49 percent African-American, 35 percent white, 13
percent Hispanic, two percent Native American and one percent Asian. An
average of 23 percent of homeless people in the cities are considered
mentally ill; 30 percent are substance abusers; 17 percent are
employed; and 10 percent are veterans.
- In 60 percent of
the cities, families may have to break up in order to be sheltered. In
48 percent of the cities families may have to spend their daytime hours
outside of the shelter they use at night.
- Requests for
assisted housing by low- income families and individuals increased in
83 percent of the cities during the last year. Thirty-three percent of
eligible low-income households are currently served by assisted housing
programs. City officials estimate that low- income households spend an
average of 46 percent of their income on housing.
- Applicants
must wait an average of 24 months for public housing in the survey
cities. The wait for Section 8
Certificates is 26 months, for Section 8 Vouchers, 27 months.
Forty-eight percent of the
cities have stopped accepting applications for at least one assisted
housing program due to the
excessive length of the waiting list.
Thriving Neignborhoods: Homeless
Prevention, Pew Partnership
A study by The Urban
Institute found that at least 2.3 million adults and children are
likely to experience a spell of homelessness at least once during a
year (Burt, et al).
Statistics show that as many as half of all homeless adults become
homeless because they are evicted or experience some other problem with
the landlord or with paying their rent. Accordingly, homeless
prevention strategies are seen as an important way to reduce the size
of the homeless population. Prevention programs fall into two basic
categories:
- Programs that provide legal assistance to
tenants who are facing or involved in formal eviction procedures.
- Programs that provide cash assistance to
enable tenants to pay all or part of their back rent—this approach can
reach people who are not involved in eviction procedures but are still
in danger of losing an apartment.
A comprehensive
review of a range of homeless prevention programs provides the
following information and conclusions (Lindblom):
- Several studies show that providing legal
assistance or legal representation to tenants in eviction proceedings
greatly increases the likelihood that the tenant can win the case or
reach an agreement with the landlord.
- The effectiveness of less intensive and
comprehensive legal-assistance programs that provide guidance and
coaching, but not direct legal representation, is not so clear. They
are more likely to result only in buying the tenant a little time.
- The effectiveness of the more intensive and
comprehensive legal-assistance model probably would be increased if
programs targeted assistance to those most in danger of becoming
homeless without an intervention, as indicated by the profile of the
homeless population.
- There are several models of programs that
provide emergency cash assistance to prevent families from falling into
homelessness. Because they typically serve a more functioning and less
disadvantaged group of at-risk families, some questions are raised
about their effectiveness in preventing homelessness.
Emergency
cash-assistance programs that provided case-management assistance
(household budgeting training, family counseling, and help in accessing
welfare benefits) were found to be no more successful in preventing
homelessness than programs that did not. This is probably because the
programs target basically functional families. If a more at-risk group
were targeted, cash-management assistance would probably be quite
beneficial.
Related
Information:
- Toward a Comprehensive
Homelessness-Prevention Strategy: In support of a more rapid expansion of
effective
homelessness-prevention activities, this paper discusses the benefits
of prevention, develops an initial framework for a comprehensive
homelessness-prevention strategy, and, using this framework, evaluates
existing prevention efforts and suggests new initiatives. Fannie Mae
Foundation.
- Homeless
Assistance Library: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development, Office of Community Planning and Development.
Legal Resources:
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