Transforming the District of Columbia's Public Homeless Assistance System Martha R. Burt Sam Hall June 2, 2008 Urban Institute 2100 M Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037 www.urban.org The contents of this report are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Urban Institute, its trustees, or funders. i CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction............................................................................................................... 1 Methods and Data Sources.............................................................................................................. 1 Data from TCP............................................................................................................................ 1 Other Information....................................................................................................................... 2 Chapter 2: Understanding How Homeless People Use the District’s Emergency Shelter System............................................................................................................................................ 5 Highlights........................................................................................................................................ 5 Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 6 D.C.’s Emergency Shelter Population............................................................................................ 6 What Are the Differences among “FY06 Cohort,” “Active in FY07,” and “TCP Approach”?.8 Single Adults Active in ES in FY07........................................................................................... 9 Gender, Race, and Age........................................................................................................... 9 Veterans and Disabilities...................................................................................................... 10 Living Arrangement on the Night Before Entering Shelter.................................................. 10 Families: AHAR and Virginia Williams Family Resource Center Data.................................. 10 Age, Race, and Gender......................................................................................................... 11 Disability............................................................................................................................... 11 The Application and Placement Process............................................................................... 12 Living Arrangement at the Time of Applying for Shelter.................................................... 13 Length of Stay (LOS) and the FY06 Cohort Analyses................................................................. 13 Single adults—FY06 Cohort......................................................................................................... 13 Total Length of Stay for the FY06 Single Adults Cohort......................................................... 14 Long-Stayers......................................................................................................................... 15 Reentry.................................................................................................................................. 15 LOS Categories, Demographic Trends, and Missing Data................................................... 17 Age and Missing Values....................................................................................................... 17 Race/Ethnicity....................................................................................................................... 18 Gender................................................................................................................................... 19 Disability............................................................................................................................... 20 Mental Illness........................................................................................................................ 21 Substance Abuse................................................................................................................... 22 Physical Disabilities.............................................................................................................. 23 Families (FY06 Cohort)................................................................................................................ 23 Length of Stay (LOS) and Families (FY06 Cohort)................................................................. 24 Long-Stayers......................................................................................................................... 24 Those Who Exit and Return in Under 12 Months................................................................ 25 Demographic Trends