Key Facts About Homelessness

Homelessness is a very real problem in Kent County. On any given night, 750-800 people sleep in emergency shelters or transitional housing. This is the sheltered homeless population – sheltered but still homeless because a roof does not make a home. In addition there are dozens of unsheltered homeless persons in our County, those who sleep in doorways, under highways or in cars. And this count does not include families or individuals staying temporarily with neighbors or friends, those who are precariously housed and in danger of homelessness.

The “face” of homelessness is changing. Thirty years ago, indigent single men made up the vast majority of people who were homeless. Today, women and children comprise 65% of those who are homeless. Children are the single largest group (36% of all who are homeless). Nearly 30% of all homeless adults have jobs.

Homelessness is a complex problem that CAN be solved. Homelessness is often the result of other issues, problems, or family crises such as divorce, loss of employment, or a medical condition. It is an extreme form of poverty.

The current system is designed to “manage” homelessness, not put an end to it. Our system currently includes wonderful services and programs that manage homelessness in our community. We need now to redesign the infrastructure to make these services operate to effectively end homelessness.

Homelessness is costly. The cost of homelessness can be quite high, particularly for those with chronic illnesses. Because they have no regular place to stay, people who are homeless use a variety of public systems (jail/prison, hospitals, etc.) in an inefficient and costly way. Preventing a homeless episode or ensuring a speedy transition into stable permanent housing can result in a significant cost savings.

We Can End Homelessness

Vision to End Homelessness has three major goals:

• Close the front door into homelessness through prevention efforts and changes to the current system.
• Open the back door out of homelessness by providing resources necessary to get housed quickly.
• Build the infrastructure to end homelessness by expanding the supply of affordable housing and increasing the ability of people to pay for housing.

How We Will End Homelessness

Vision to End Homelessness is our local initiative dedicated to ending homelessness in Kent County by the end of 2014. Dozens of agencies and service providers have and will continue to collaborate with community volunteers to explore and develop solutions to meet our local needs. More than 700 community members have participated in one or more ways. For example, more than 120 people have participated on project teams to explore issues that hinder people’s ability to obtain or maintain housing.

The Vision to End Homelessness encompasses how we can move from managing homelessness to ending it!

Specific documents regarding the process can be found under “Vision Process Documents.”

The VISION was released in January 2006- and now the real work of ending homelessness begins.