FY11 LINN COUNTY HOMELESS DATA SUMMARY REPORT

The number of homeless persons served by Linn County Emergency Shelters and Transitional Housing Programs in Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 (July 1, 2010 June 30, 2011) increased 5% from the previous fiscal year. During FY11, local programs served 5,802 homeless persons. FY11 data is contrasted with data from the previous four fiscal years in the chart below.
LINN COUNTY HOMELESS DATA
7000

6000
5,520

5,802

5000 4,507 4,174

# SERVED
4000

4,451

3000

2000

1000

FY07

FY08

FY09

FY10

FY11

Of the 5,802 persons served in FY11, 1,070 or 19% were men, 1,818 or 31% were women and 2,914 or 50% were children. The overall number of shelter nights / days provided by local homeless programs increased by approximately 22%, from 97,260 in FY10 to 118,768 in FY11.

EMERGENCY SHELTERS Nine programs provide overnight or daytime emergency shelter or lodging in Linn County. Combined, these programs provided 34,648 shelter nights and 6,341 shelter days to 5,230 persons in FY11, up (276 individuals) from the 4,954 persons served in FY10. The total number of shelter nights and days provided by these programs decreased .5% from 41,219 in FY10 to 40,989 in FY11, indicating that shelter stays were shorter overall. Of the 5,230 persons served by emergency shelters in FY11: 909 or 17% were men; 1,616 or 31% were women; and 2,705 or 52% were children/youth. These percentages are similar to those in FY10, although the percentage of men served increased 1%, while the percentage of women served decreased 1%, respectively. The following chart illustrates the number of men, women and children served, as well as the number of shelter nights/days provided by each of these programs in FY11.
SHELTER OR PROGRAM NAME Catholic Worker House Cedar House Shelter Foundation 2 Youth Shelter Mission of Hope Shelter Salvation Army (Emergency Lodging) Waypoint Domestic Violence Program
(Emergency Lodging)

# MEN SERVED 17 124 0 411 17 2 0 0 338 909

# WOMEN SERVED 121 22 0 2 19 117 125 1191 19 1616

# CHILDREN/ YOUTH SERVED 75 0 374 0 20 92 124 1962 58 2705

TOTAL # SERVED 213 146 374 413 56 211 249 3153 415 5230

#NIGHTS OR DAYS OF SHELTER PROVIDED 4,841 5,649 4,564 3,921 90 567 6,364 6,341 8,652 40,989

Waypoint Madge Phillips Center 24-hour Daytime Willis Dady Emergency Shelter TOTALS:

During FY11, Emergency Shelters reported turning away or placing 3,295 individuals on waiting lists for various reasons, but primarily because the shelter was full or the individual did not meet the shelters eligibility criteria.

TRANSITIONAL HOUSING Five agencies provided transitional housing services to various subgroups of the homeless population. Combined these programs provided 77,779 nights of shelter to 572 persons during FY11. The FY11 number served represents an increase of 6 persons, or 1%, from FY10. Of those served by transitional housing programs in FY11: 161 or 28% were men; 202 or 35% were women; and 209 or 37% were children. In FY11, the number of men served increased by 3%, the number of women served increased by 1% and the number of children served decreased 3% over FY10 totals. The overall number of shelter nights provided by these programs increased approximately 39%, from 56,041 in FY10 to 77,779 in FY11. It should be noted that units at HACAPs Inn Circle facility, which was undergoing renovations throughout much of FY10, became available again in FY11, impacting both the number served and the shelter nights provided by this program. The following chart illustrates the number of men, women and children served, as well as the number of shelter nights provided by each of these programs in FY11.
TRANSITIONAL HOUSING PROGRAM NAME ASAC Transitional Housing Catherine McAuley Center Foundation 2 Transitional Living HACAP Transitional Housing Safe Place Foundation TOTALS: # MEN SERVED 36 0 5 18 102 161 # WOMEN SERVED 54 38 11 68 31 202 # CHILDREN SERVED 72 0 3 134 0 209 TOTAL # SERVED 162 38 19 220 133 572 #NIGHTS OF SHELTER PROVIDED 5,818 4,129 1,794 55,189 10,849 77,779

Turn-away and waiting list data was available for three of these programs (Catherine McAuley, Foundation 2 Transitional Living and the Safe Place Foundation) for at least a portion of the year during FY11. Those programs reported that over that time frame, cumulatively 352 individuals were turned away or placed on program waiting lists.

RACIAL ETHNIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THOSE SERVED Data regarding the racial/ethnic composition of the FY11 Linn County homeless population is illustrated in the chart below.

The majority of those served, or 49%, were Caucasian, while the remaining 51% were from other races. Compared to the 8 percent of minorities living in Linn County overall, as estimated in the 2005 - 2009 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, a disproportionate number of minorities were served by homeless programs in FY11. FAMILY COMPOSITION OF THOSE SERVED Information regarding the family composition of those served in both emergency shelters and transitional housing programs is depicted in the following graphs. The majority of those served, or 64% were with families, while 36% were unaccompanied men, women or youth.

Of the unaccompanied individuals served, 48% were men, 34% were women and 18% were youth. The percentage of unaccompanied men within this category increased 2%, while the percentage of unaccompanied youth declined proportionately and the percentage of women remained constant.

[Note: F HOHs =Female Head of Households; M HOHs = Male Head of Households.]

Of the total number of families served, those with a female head of household were predominant. In fact, a female headed approximately 82% of the families served in FY11. The percentages for all types of households remained constant in FY11. MEALS SERVED Linn County is fortunate to have several community meal sites that collectively provide breakfast, lunch, or dinner, seven days a week. Those sites include: First Lutheran Churchs Saturday Evening Meal Program First Presbyterian Churchs Sunday Evening Meal Program
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 Green Square Meals, which provides evening meals, Monday through Friday HD Youth Center, which provides breakfast, Monday through Friday, at the Jane Boyd Community House (non-reporting) Mission of Hope, which provides lunch, Tuesday through Friday The Salvation Army, which provides breakfast and lunch, Monday through Friday. In addition, First United Methodist Church of Marion provided a noon meal during school breaks at multiple sites in Marion; and the Neighborhood Meal and Enrichment Program provided a noon meal at two sites in Cedar Rapids, Monday through Friday during July & August of 2010 and at one site during June 2011. Data was available from seven of these eight meal programs. Combined, these programs served 155,178 meals to the homeless and hungry in this community, a 5% decrease from the number of meals served in FY10. A breakdown of the number of meals provided at each of these sites is included in the table below:
MEAL SITE First Lutheran Saturday Evening Meal Program (SEMP) First Presbyterian Sunday Evening Meal Program First United Methodist FLY Program Green Square Meals Mission of Hope Neighborhood Meal & Enrichment Program The Salvation Army TOTALS: # OF MEALS SERVED 5,807 6,334 30,953 21,575 25,880 14,949 49,680 155,178

In addition to the meals provided by the sites noted above, six overnight emergency shelters and one transitional housing program provided another 66,062 meals to those served by their programs in FY11. The numbers of meals provided by each of those programs are highlighted in the chart below.
MEAL SITE ASAC Transitional Housing Catholic Worker House Foundation 2 Youth Shelter Mission of Hope Shelter Waypoint Domestic Violence Shelter Waypoint Madge Phillips Center 24-Hour Willis Dady Emergency Shelter TOTALS: # OF MEALS SERVED 17,454 10,844 12,139 3,921 759 19,092 1,853 66,062

Overall, 221,240 meals were served to homeless/near homeless individuals by reporting programs (local meal sites, emergency shelters and transitional housing programs) during FY11.

USE OF OVERFLOW BEDS On January 12, 2011, the Linn County Continuum of Care implemented the use of Overflow Beds at four local emergency shelters (Catholic Worker House, Cedar House Shelter, Mission of Hope and Willis Dady Emergency Shelter) to address the need to provide temporary additional capacity at shelters when severe weather conditions pose health and safety concerns for the areas homeless. The definition of an overflow bed may vary from shelter to shelter. Some use couches, recliners or surplus bedding, while others may use cots, air mattresses or excess beds to add overflow capacity. The number of persons served in Overflow Beds during FY11 is illustrated by shelter in the chart below.
PARTICIPATING OVERFLOW BEDS SHELTER Catholic Worker House Cedar House Shelter Mission of Hope Shelter Willis Dady Emergency Shelter TOTALS: # SERVED IN FY11 22 13 100 15 150

METHODOLOGY CONSTRAINTS The data included in this report represents unduplicated counts by program as reported by each of the homeless assistance providers noted above. It does not take into account any duplication that may have occurred between programs, nor does it capture the unsheltered homeless1 who chose not to seek assistance through the communitys homeless assistance programs. It does provide a comparative snapshot of the number of persons utilizing services within the communitys homeless assistance system on an annual basis. COMPARISON TO STATE I-COUNT DATA Ten of the fourteen local homeless assistance programs, or 71%, reported data to the State of Iowas I-Count system during FY11. This system is able to distinguish unique or unduplicated clients across all reporting programs. During that time frame, those programs reported serving 5,161 individuals, 4,577, or 89% of who were identified as unique clients. Applying this percentage to the total number of clients served by all Linn County programs overall, it is estimated that local programs served 5,164 unique individuals in FY11.

For more information on the unsheltered homeless, please refer to the Linn County Continuum of Care Planning & Policy Councils Point-in-Time Reports.
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MORE INFORMATION Additional data regarding local homelessness is available from the Linn County Continuum of Care Planning & Policy Council. For more information, please contact: Ann Hearn Deputy Director of Community Planning Linn County Community Services 1240 26th Avenue Court SW Cedar Rapids, IA 52404 Phone: Email: (319) 892-5609
ann.hearn@linncounty.org

FY11 Linn County Homeless Data Report