Non-chronic Adult Homelessness: Background and

Opportunities

Dennis P. Culhane University of Pennsylvania

National Center on Homelessness among Veterans

Non-chronic Homeless Adults:

Scope: PIT: 278,713 Annual: 754,400

34.5

13.1

52.4

Annual Number of Persons

Homelessin Family

ChronicHomeless

Non-chronic

Homeless

Adults

Adults

14.2

17.2

68.6

Annual Number of Households

FamilyHouseholds

ChronicHomeless

Non-chronicHomeless

Adults

Adults

Aging Trend of Adult Homeless in NYC: Bimodal

Source: Culhane et al. (2013)/ New York City Department of Homeless Services Shelter Utilization Data

*

Changing Age Distribution: Case Study in NYC

50% of the increase in single adult homeless (2005-2010), was from young adults (18-30).

35% of homeless in their 50s, in 2010, were homeless for the 1st time since 1988.

AHAR: Single Adult % by Age

4.8

20.3

51.9

18.9

1.8

24

43.9

25

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Under age18

18-30 31-50 51-61% S

helt

ered

In

div

idu

als

(2

00

7-2

01

3)

Age

2007

2013

18%

15%

32%

Characteristics by Cluster: Dated Data (Philadelphia, 1998)

Nearly all chronically homeless people have a disability:

Clusters by Characteristics

78.3 71.5 74.6 73.8

11.2 10.8 14.1

11.1 10.5 17.7

11.3 15.1

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Percen

tag

e o

f P

op

ula

tio

n

Background Characteristics by Cluster

Transitional

Episodic

Chronic

Most homeless people with a disability are Transitionally Homeless.

Dynamics: Pattern of Homeless Service Use among

Sheltered Individuals: Length of Stay (AHAR)

37.5%

28.9% 33.5%

0

10

20

30

40

7 days orless

8 to 30 days 31 to 180days

Percen

tag

e o

f u

sers

Length of Stay

(Only stays less than 180 days)

Where do they Come From?

24.4%

22.1% 14.3%

13.4%

25.8%

Institution

Friends

Ownhouse/Apt.

Other

Family

28.9

40

15

13.4

2.7

Institutions

S.A Tx

Jail

Hospital

PsychiatricFacility

FosterCare

Intervention Opportunities

Income ◦ Younger: Jobs and Job Training

◦ Older: SSI

Services ◦ Younger: Behavioral Health Supports

◦ Older: Chronic Disease Management

Housing ◦ Younger & Older: Rapid Rehousing

Rapid Rehousing

Critical Time Intervention (CTI)- Potential Medicaid reimbursement

SSVF- Veteran exemplar, approximately 30,000 non-chronic adults served in 2013.

SSVF Rapid Rehousing: Returns

to Homelessness (Families Vs. Singles)

0.80.820.840.860.880.9

0.920.940.960.98

1

1

21

41

61

81

101

121

141

161

181

201

221

241

261

281

301

321

341

361

Su

rviv

al

Pro

po

rti

on

Days Since SSVF

Singles

Families

1 Year Singles: 15.7% Families: 10.1%

SSVF Rapid Rehousing Vs. GPD: Rates of Homelessness

0.5

0.55

0.6

0.65

0.7

0.75

0.8

0.85

0.9

0.95

11

20

39

58

77

96

115

134

153

172

191

210

229

248

267

286

305

324

343

362

Su

rviv

al

Pro

po

rti

on

Days Since Program Exit

SSVF

GPD

1 Year SSVF: 11.0% GPD: 35.4%

Non-chronic Recap

Most homeless households are non-chronic singles (68.6%)

Bimodal age growth (20s and 50s)

24.4% come out of institutions.

Most disabled adults are non-chronically homeless

SSVF proves rapid rehousing works

Medicaid could pay for CTI