Non-chronic Adult Homelessness: Background and Opportunities by Dennis Culhane from the workshop 1.7 Non-Chronic Homelessness among Single Adults: An Overview at the 2014 National Conference on Ending Homelessness

1. Non-chronic Adult
Homelessness: Background and
Opportunities
Dennis P. Culhane
University of Pennsylvania
National Center on Homelessness among Veterans

2. Non-chronic Homeless Adults:
Scope: PIT: 278,713 Annual: 754,400
34.5
13.1
52.4
Annual Number of Persons
Homeless
in Family
Chronic
Homeless
Non-
chronic
Homeless
Adults
Adults
14.2
17.2
68.6
Annual Number of Households
Family
Households
Chronic
Homeless
Non-chronic
Homeless
Adults
Adults

3. Aging Trend of Adult Homeless in
NYC: Bimodal
Source: Culhane et al. (2013)/ New York City Department of Homeless Services Shelter Utilization Data
*

4. 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.

5. 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 age
18
18-30 31-50 51-61
%ShelteredIndividuals
(2007-2013)
Age
2007
2013
18%
15%
32%

6. Characteristics by Cluster:
Dated Data (Philadelphia, 1998)
Nearly all chronically homeless people have a disability:

7. Clusters by Characteristics
78.3
71.5 74.6 73.8
11.2 10.8
14.1
11.110.5
17.7
11.3 15.1
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
PercentageofPopulation
Background Characteristics by Cluster
Transitional
Episodic
Chronic
Most homeless people with a disability are Transitionally Homeless.

8. 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 or
less
8 to 30 days 31 to 180
days
Percentageof
users
Length of Stay
(Only stays less than 180 days)

9. Where do they Come From?
24.4%
22.1%
14.3%
13.4%
25.8%
Institution
Friends
Own
house/Apt.
Other
Family
28.9
40
15
13.4
2.7
Institutions
S.A Tx
Jail
Hospital
Psychiatric
Facility
Foster
Care

10. Intervention Opportunities
 Income
◦ Younger: Jobs and Job Training
◦ Older: SSI
 Services
◦ Younger: Behavioral Health Supports
◦ Older: Chronic Disease Management
 Housing
◦ Younger & Older: Rapid Rehousing

11. Rapid Rehousing
 Critical Time Intervention (CTI)- Potential
Medicaid reimbursement
 SSVF- Veteran exemplar, approximately
30,000 non-chronic adults served in 2013.

12. SSVF Rapid Rehousing: Returns
to Homelessness (Families Vs. Singles)
0.8
0.82
0.84
0.86
0.88
0.9
0.92
0.94
0.96
0.98
1
1
21
41
61
81
101
121
141
161
181
201
221
241
261
281
301
321
341
361
SurvivalProportion
Days Since SSVF
Singles
Families
1 Year
Singles: 15.7%
Families: 10.1%

13. 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
1
1
20
39
58
77
96
115
134
153
172
191
210
229
248
267
286
305
324
343
362
SurvivalProportion
Days Since Program Exit
SSVF
GPD
1 Year
SSVF: 11.0%
GPD: 35.4%

14. 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