Shelter use dips, says UH report on the homeless

The number of people who used homeless shelters or were helped by outreach services leveled off and may have even dropped slightly last year, after five years of increases, according to a report on homeless services in Hawaii released in November.

Some 14,200 homeless people either used a shelter or took advantage of outreach efforts during the 2010-11 fiscal year, which was a 3 percent decline from the year before, according to the report by the University of Hawaii's Center on the Family. Because of the transient nature of homelessness, the 3 percent figure may not be significant; however, there were other signs of optimism in the report.

While state funding remained flat last year for homeless outreach and a shelter stipend program, the number of transitional housing units – 1,206 – had increased 97 percent since 2006. The number of emergency shelter beds in Hawaii – 748 – was a 59 percent increase from 2006.

The annual report looked for the first time at where people end up after leaving a shelter or after being helped by a program. Of the 3,041 homeless people who used an emergency homeless shelter last year, 15 percent -- or 448 people -- went on to rent or own homes. An additional 941 people who were helped by "transitional housing" ended up renting or owning a home, the study found. A January survey counted 1,322 homeless people in the islands, but homeless service providers estimate that 6,000 homeless people need shelter each night.

The data "will help us to make better decisions and take appropriate actions to reduce homelessness in Hawaii," Sandra Miyoshi, administrator of the Homeless Programs Office at the Department of Human Services, said in a statement. "Despite the gains we've made in the past few years, there is a continuing need to move homeless people into permanent housing."

The majority of the UH study found that most of the other data remained stagnant. For instance, about a quarter of all people who use homeless services last year -- 23 percent -- continued to be children under 18 years old. Among homeless adults, 20 percent have disabilities; 12 percent are considered long-term homeless who have been continuously homeless for at least a year or had at least four homeless episodes in the previous three years; and 9 percent are considered "chronically" homeless.