U.S. homelessness declines; Utah's is leveling off

WASHINGTON — An 80 percent increase in permanent housing options over temporary shelters has resulted in a 11.5 percent decline — the first ever — in the number of chronically homeless people living in the United States.

According to a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, nearly half the 3,900 large urban areas nationwide that were surveyed reported reductions in the number of chronically homeless people between 2005 and 2006.

The department credited government and private alliances in communities around the nation that have adopted the approach of providing a permanent residence first and then addressing the core reasons that have kept a person living on the streets. Residents are connected with and required to enroll in mental-health and substance-abuse treatment programs in order to retain the housing.

Homeless advocates in Utah say the homeless population here didn't decline in that period but has been leveling off, in large part because of public and private alliances that will bring 450 single and family residences by next fall.

According to the Utah Homeless Management Information System, the chronically homeless — the roughly 750 individuals on any given day who have been homeless at least a year and have a debilitating health condition — are being given meaningful reasons to stay housed.

Local advocates estimates that the overall homeless population is actually 26 percent higher than client survey and monitoring records indicate. Nevertheless, a state coalition has set a goal of ending chronic homelessness by 2014.

"Our trend has flattened somewhat, although the numbers will spike at certain times of the year," said Pamela Atkinson, an advocate for homeless people. "We're beginning to show what these large urban areas are showing."

She noted that some residents of new permanent housing in Salt Lake are people who were permanent fixtures on the street for 14 or 15 years.

"That confirms that something right is being done," she said.

Nationwide, the number of chronically homeless people dropped from 175,900 in 2005 to 155,600 in 2006, according to the HUD report.

Earlier this year, HUD estimated there were a total of 754,000 homeless people on a given night in January 2005. The overall estimate for 2006 is expected early next year.

"In the past few years, there has been a significant investment in ending chronic homelessness, both in time and resources," said Mary Cunningham, director of the Homelessness Research Institute at the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

"Communities across the country are really working hard on this issue," she said. "It would be a major disappointment if the numbers were not going down."

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Contributing: James Thalman, Deseret Morning News.