Homeless In Georgia 2008

What is homelessness?

Homelessness is a difficult and complex issue. So much so, that there is even disagreement over the definition of who is truly homeless and who is not. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines someone as "homeless" if he or she: resides in an emergency shelter or in transitional/

• supportive housing for homeless persons; or
• resides in a place not meant for human habitation, such as cars, parks, sidewalks, abandoned buildings, encampments, and dilapidated buildings.

The U.S. Department of Education uses an expanded definition that also includes
people who are:
• doubled up with family or friends due to economic condition
• living in motels and hotels for lack of other suitable housing
• migrant workers living in housing not fit for habitation

The State of Georgia, in the Act that created the State Housing Trust Fund for the Homeless in 1988, defined homelessness as "persons and families who have no access to or can reasonably be expected not to have access to either traditional or permanent housing which can be considered safe, sanitary, decent, and affordable."1. Because of the important variations in the definition of homelessness, this report primarily uses the more narrow HUD definition, except when otherwise noted.

What is chronic homelessness?
About 25% of the homeless population experience long spells of homelessness or have had numerous homeless episodes.

2. These chronically homeless individuals use a disproportionate share of public services and are vulnerable to continued homelessness. HUD considers someone chronically homeless if he or she is unaccompanied, has a disabling condition and has been homeless continuously for a year or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years.

3. What is the impact of homelessness?
Homelessness has a profound impact on the individuals and families it affects including increased health problems, increased mental health problems, difficulty with maintaining employment, separation of families, and so on. Although we can sympathize with people who are in difficult straits, it is fair to ask why homelessness matters to the community at large. Homelessness affects more than just an individual or family. It affects the whole community in a number of ways.

The costs of homelessness include:

• poor educational attainment and development among homeless children
• uninsured medical costs for a population with a high rate of disability
• public safety costs including police and jail costs for offenses such as panhandling, loitering, or vagrancy
• sanitation and litter control in parks and public spaces where homeless people congregate
• high cost of emergency shelters, transitional housing, and supportive services for individuals and families experiencing homelessness
• high cost of crisis services such as emergency room and ambulance services and inpatient hospitalization for acute and chronic health conditions as well as mental health crises
• lost wages and revenue from individuals that would otherwise be able to work if they had a permanent address

Myth: Homeless people are a fixed population who are usually homeless for long periods of time.
Fact: Research indicates that 40% of homeless people have been homeless less than six months, and 70% have been homeless less than two years.

University of Denver, Project Homeless Connect www.du.edu/homelessness Million-Dollar Murray

A February 2006 article in the New Yorker relates the story of Murray Barr, a chronically homeless man living in Reno, Nevada. Police Officers Patrick O’Bryan and Steve Johns had numerous interactions with Murray over many years. They began tallying costs such as arrests, incarcerations, ambulance service, and hospitalizations over a ten-year period. Officer O’Bryan said, "It cost us one million dollars not to do something about Murray."
Malcolm Gladwell, "Million Dollar Murray," The New Yorker, Feb. 13, 2006 92% of homeless women have experienced severe physical and/or sexual assault at some point in their lives.

National Low Income Housing Coalition, Violence Against Women Act, March 1, 2007
2007 Tri-J Homeless Census — Point-In-Time Individuals Family Members Totals % Unsheltered 2,071 44 2,115 31% Emergency Shelters 2,027 359 2,386 35% Transitional Housing 1,524 815 2,339 34% Totals and % 5,622 (82%) 1,218 (18%) 6,840 100%

How many people are homeless in Georgia?
The difficulties of counting the homeless in any single community, much less a large state, have been discussed in detail by both researchers and advocates for the homeless. This report will not presume to provide a single, definitive, and indisputable number of persons who are homeless in Georgia. However, it is important to have at least some understanding of the magnitude and scope of the problem. Fortunately, a significant amount of data from multiple sources is available to indicate how many people in the state face the dreadful prospect of no place to live.

Point in Time Homeless Counts
The federal response to the problem of homelessness is embodied in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, first passed in 1987. The McKinney-Vento programs are administered by many federal agencies including HUD. In order to receive federal funding, communities must organize services within a Continuum of Care umbrella.
In 2003, the U.S. Congress passed legislation requiring that the Continuums of Care conduct point-in-time homeless counts once every two years. Accordingly, each of Georgia’s Continuums of Care (CoCs) have been engaged in an effort to count the state’s sheltered and unsheltered homeless population. The CoCs that cover Chatham, Cobb, DeKalb, and Fulton Counties and the consolidated governments of Athens-Clarke, Augusta-Richmond, and Columbus-Muscogee conduct homeless counts annually or biennially. For example, every other year, the Metro Atlanta Tri-Jurisdictional Collaborative on Homelessness (Tri-J), comprised of the City of Atlanta, Fulton County, and DeKalb County, has over 500 volunteers and staff walk and drive the entire 750 square miles of the jurisdiction from midnight to 5 a.m., looking for unsheltered homeless people.

This national best practice canvassing model is coordinated by Pathways Community Network for the Tri-J. On the same night, the Tri-J conducts a census of its emergency shelter and transitional housing beds. On January 25, 2007, the Tri-J count identified 6,840 sheltered and unsheltered homeless people in the two county area.

4. Because the Balance of the State covers 152 counties, many of them rural, the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) has always performed an annual assessment of persons in shelters and transitional housing, but until 2008 did not have a feasible way to count unsheltered homeless people. Beginning this year, DCA used a sampling methodology and predictive model developed by statistics faculty at Kennesaw State University.

5. The methodology took the unsheltered homeless count in 23 counties to arrive at a predicted count of unsheltered homeless persons by county. The count data used in the model included counts from 2007 and 2008. The counts conducted in the Balance of the State were done using surveys primarily collected at locations where people receive services.

All of the count efforts around the state, along with the model, indicate that there were over 20,000 people in Georgia who were homeless at a single Point-In-Time (a one-night snap shot) during the last week in January. The homeless count surveys collected in January 2008 also included a question about the length of time that people had been homeless. Using a weighted average of those responses provides an estimate of over 75,000 people who experience homelessness in Georgia at some time during one year. DCA and the other CoCs will be conducting new point-in-time counts during the last week in January 2009. These counts will provide an opportunity to refine the count methodologies and update our estimates for 2009. In addition, the counts will provide trend data for the participating communities and the state as a whole.

Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Data
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has also mandated that Continuums of Care utilize a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) for their federally funded programs for the homeless. In Georgia, all of the Continuums have adopted the use of the same system provided through Pathways Community Network. Statewide, 277 homeless service providers use Pathways HMIS. In 2007, these agencies enrolled 31,195 individuals and family members, in various service programs.

The Hidden Cost of Homelessness
On the night of January 27, 2008 Burke County had 112 inmates in their local jail. 22% of those people (25 inmates) were homeless. Georgia Department of Community Affairs, 2008 Jail Survey, conducted by the Burruss Institute at Kennesaw State University as part of the 2008 State Homeless count

Over 75,000 Georgians are homeless at some time during the year. Estimation using predictive model 2007 and 2008 Unsheltered Homeless Counts and Predictive Model

The Hidden Cost of Homelessness
A Clarke County study released in
February 2007 found that Athens
hospitals, which are required to treat
everyone regardless of ability to pay,
spent at least $12.4 million in 2005
caring for the homeless, an average of
almost $20,000 per homeless patient.
A total of 576 homeless people made
7,000 visits to Athens Regional Medical
Center and St. Mary’s Hospital in 2005.
Source: Athens-Clarke County Department of
Human and Economic Development

Who is homeless in Georgia?
As part of the point-in-time count in January 2008, 1,578 unduplicated surveys were
collected from people around the state who were having housing difficulties. The
urveys focused on the housing status of the survey respondents and their families
(2,041 people) on the night of January 27, 2008. The housing status of the survey respondents and their families is shown in the table below.

The people categorized as "precariously housed" were staying with family or friends
or in hotels/motels. These people would be considered homeless under the more expansive U.S. Department of Education definition of homelessness, but not under
the definition adopted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Children were more likely to be in families that were precariously housed or living
in homeless shelters. About 71% of the survey respondents who were precariously
housed were women. The unsheltered homeless were generally middle aged adults,
59% of those survey respondents were men. The sheltered homeless were split almost
evenly between women and men. Using the broader definition of homelessness, the
majority of Georgia’s homeless population are women and children.

What causes homelessness in Georgia?
Two factors play a huge part in the lives of people who become homeless: extreme poverty and personal vulnerability.
Extreme Poverty

People can become homeless because of:
• very low incomes,
• unemployment, or
• the lack of available affordable housing.
Income and the cost of housing
People who are poor face a much higher risk of becoming homeless. Georgia’s poorest
citizens, who earn 50% or less of the poverty level, are at particular risk.
Housing Wage6
Georgia Non-metro Georgia Atlanta MSA
Annual Income Needed to Afford Fair Market Rent*
One bedroom apartment $25,712 $18,949 $29,640
Two-bedroom apartment $29,084 $22,257 $32,960
income needed to pay rent and utilities, without paying more than 30% of income on housing.

Dr. Larry Keating, then Professor of City and Regional Planning at Georgia Tech,
conducted a study looking at households with low or moderate-incomes who have
one or more housing problems (cost burden, over-crowding, and/or lack of plumbing
and complete kitchen facilities).7 Using data from the 2000 Census, Dr. Keating found
that 256,146 households (renters and homeowners) were spending 50% or more of
their gross incomes on housing. These are families for whom the cost of housing places
them in danger of becoming homeless. Using those averages, over 725,000 Georgians
live in households paying more than 50% of gross income for housing.

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