Data from the Kent County
Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)

HMIS Calendar Year 2009

5,118 persons were literally homeless (in Emergency Shelter, Transitional Housing, Missions, or Permanent Supportive Housing) in 2009 in Kent County.

This represents a 15% decrease^* from the 6,022 persons that were homeless in 2008.

Total households   3,870

62% were single individual
38% were in families
24% were children

Primary Reason for the Housing Crisis

Housing Issues                         49%
(eviction, asked to leave, unable to pay rent, overcrowded/doubled up, sub-standard housing)

Employment Issues                  17%
(unemployment, recent job loss, moved to seek work)

Disability/Health Condition         10%
(physical, mental, family/personal illness, addiction)

Other                                    19%
(jail/prison - 10%, family conflict, DV, divorce, etc)

66% of people were served only once

47% of people were homeless for the first time

Who is included in this data?
Persons that were HUD homeless (in shelter, missions, transitional housing, on the streets, or in a place not meant for human habitation) in 2009 are included in this data.  The data is consistent with the data entered into HMIS in 2008 and 2007.

Who contributes to this data?
It includes data from 14 agencies and 33 programs that enter data into HMIS.  This is the most comprehensive coverage amongst participating providers in GR/Kent County to date.

Note:  All of the persons that were HUD homeless, and that received a re-housing referral from HAP are included in this data.  Those households that were in housing and received a prevention referral are not included in the HUD homeless data (because they did not meet the current definition of literally homeless).  This accounts for the difference in the HMIS and HAP data set (below).

^*How is this decrease possible? The function of central intake expanded and incorporated a focus on housing and not only homelessness.  There was an increased focus on prevention and the ability for the system to offer more housing options than only Emergency Shelter.  People are increasingly able to access resources only once and then not return to the system (68% single entry in 2009).  We also saw improvements in data quality, and implemented the community-based Housing Resource Specialist model.

Data from the Kent County Housing Crisis Central Intake
Housing Assessment Program (HAP)
at The Salvation Army Booth Family Services

May - December 2009^{^}

4,579 households completed a housing assessment at HAP.

84% of all households were in a housing crisis at the time of assessment.

71% were families; 29% single individuals

Of the households assessed, 94% had incomes at or below 40% AMI (area median income).  For a family of three this translates to $22,720/year.

80% of households that were in housing (with a lease) were spending more than 60% of their income on housing.  (30% or less of income is considered affordable)

55% of the HAP referrals were for homeless prevention
These services include rent assistance, prevention assistance, and Housing Resource Specialists at a variety of different agencies) 

45% of the HAP referrals were for re-housing 
These services include rent assistance, re-housing assistance, Transitional Housing, and temporary placement (shelter, motels, missions)

There was a 47% decrease in shelter usage, and a 54% decrease in motel usage compared with 2008.

^{^} Please note that this is not a full year's data. The intake and referral system changed in early 2009, and HAP started collecting all of the new data elements as of May 2009.