Homelessness Steady Declines in Harris County Area – Houston Public Media

Homelessness is declining in and around Harris County, according to a study released Tuesday by a local organization.

Non-profit Houston/Harris County Homeless Coalition, or CFTH, took a snapshot of the number of people experiencing homelessness in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties on January 22. In those three counties, they counted 3,280 people as homeless, nearly two-thirds of whom were local homeless residents. shelters. The remaining third are homeless.

Their report, which examines the region’s homeless situation compared to previous years, was released Tuesday morning. Here are the main conclusions of the study:

• Overall homelessness – unsheltered and unsheltered – in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties has decreased by 17% since January 2020, the last count taken before the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Unsheltered homelessness has decreased in these areas by 33% since 2020.
• The total number of homeless people in the region has decreased by 60% since 2011.

The organization references 2011 because that year the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development designated Houston a “priority city” for combating homelessness; at the time, the city had the sixth largest homeless population in the country with more than 8,500 people identifying as homeless. That’s when The Way Home Steering Committee was launched, a local homeless response team that works alongside CFTH.

Of the number of homeless people the organization found, 1,893 lived in Harris County, 239 in Montgomery County and 41 in Fort Bend County.

“We continue to demonstrate success. After several years of significant reductions, the number of people experiencing homelessness in the region has remained at a historically low level,” Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia said in the CFTH press release. “Joint investments from Harris County and the City of Houston are working, but as COVID relief funds dry up, we need to find a way to financially sustain the program.”

The study also shows that more homeless people are finding and using homeless shelters. Among the region’s homeless population, 1,107 people were living without shelter, a 12% decrease since 2023. While the number of people residing in homeless shelters, 2,173 people, increased by 7% l ‘last year. The organization says this could be because shelters are gradually increasing their capacity to return to pre-pandemic levels.

There is also some diversity in the length of time people live without permanent shelter. The report found that 39% of homeless people experiencing homelessness say they have been in their situation for three years or more.

The report also examines the demographics of the region’s homeless population, as well as why they lost their housing or never had it.

Nearly half of the homeless people surveyed by the CFTH, or 45% of those surveyed, said they were experiencing homelessness for the first time. This percentage has increased by 42% since 2023. About a third of homeless people said the loss of a job or income was the main reason for their homelessness. Other reasons include family conflict, mental health and evictions.

Additionally, Black and African American people account for a disproportionate number of people experiencing homelessness in the region. About 62 percent of the more than 3,200 documented homeless people are black or African American, although Harris County’s population is only about a fifth black.

The study also found that 78% of homeless people in the region are men.

The researchers emphasized that while their data is a reliable metric for measuring the area’s homeless population, these are statistics based only on data collected on January 22. They therefore cannot provide an exact number of homeless people due to “the daily fluctuation in numbers and the large area covered by volunteers.”

Read the full report below: