The Center on the Family at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and the Homeless Programs Office of the Hawaiʻi State Department of Human Services have released the Homeless Service Utilization Report: Hawaiʻi 2013 (PDF). Authored by Sarah Yuan, Ivette Rodriguez Stern and Hong Vo, the report provides the most current data on individuals and households who accessed homeless services and the state’s overall service utilization in the 2013 fiscal year, based on agency-entered data in the Homeless Management and Information System.
The report includes information for both the Shelter Stipend Program (i.e., emergency and transitional shelter services) and the Outreach Program (i.e., services to those living outside, in a car or park or on a beach). It provides a demographic profile based on an unduplicated count of shelter and outreach program clients, a seven-year trend of homeless service utilization, and an analysis of outcomes of the Shelter Program.
The total number of homeless clients served by the Shelter and Outreach Programs has dropped for the third consecutive year. There have been some improvements in shortening the length of stay in shelter programs, and in moving more clients into permanent housing more quickly. While more progress needs to be seen in helping those who were successfully housed to remain in permanent housing, data show that the large majority of clients exited the homeless service programs by the third year and did not return.
Report highlights
- From July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2013, the Shelter and Outreach Programs served a total of 13,639 individuals statewide. The total number of clients served by these programs dropped for the third consecutive year, and by 2.4 percent since 2012.
- Forty-two percent of those who received services were “new clients” (i.e., individuals who received services but had no prior intake recorded in the system, dating back to July 1, 2006).
- The average length of stay has shortened for certain program and household types compared to last year.
- Compared to 2012, more clients had obtained permanent housing in the community.
- Of those exiting shelter services to permanent housing in FY 2013, nearly equal shares of singles and families (48 percent and 49 percent, respectively) who utilized emergency shelter services exited in less than 60 days.
- About one-third of households exiting the emergency shelter program had cash income, with a median of $734 per month for those on Oʻahu and $791 for those in the other counties combined.
- Among those who entered the Shelter Program in FY 2010, two-thirds of the emergency shelter cohort and over half of the transitional shelter cohort exited homeless programs by the second year (FY 2011) and have not returned since. By the third year, 83 percent of the emergency shelter cohort and 76 percent of the transitional shelter cohort exited and have not returned to a homeless service program since.
Read highlights of the report in the UH Mānoa news release or download the full report.
