Progress shown despite growth in El Paso County homeless population

The number of homeless people in El Paso County continues to rise at a rate that matches previous years, but the number of unsheltered children dropped significantly from last year.

Summary data from the 2018 Point in Time survey was released Thursday. The survey was conducted in late January by 180 volunteers.

According to the report, there were 1,551 sheltered and unsheltered homeless people in El Paso County as of Jan. 28. That’s an increase of about 9.6 percent, which is in line with the increases in previous years.

Of that total, 231 were under the age of 18, which is a decrease from last year’s count of 282. The number of unsheltered children dropped from 23 last year to nine this year.

The number of young adults experiencing homelessness saw an uptick from 113 last year to 140 this year, but 66 percent of those were sheltered compared to 60 percent last year.

According to the Community Health Partnership, that correlates to a 22 percent increase in young adults utilizing outreach and shelter services. The study did note that there was a decrease in the number of “rapid rehousing units” available.

More former El Paso County residents are now homeless

One interesting note is that the number of homeless people who previously held residence in El Paso County went up, and the number of homeless from outside the county went down slightly.

According to the study, 61 percent of respondents said they were last “stably housed for 90 days or longer” in El Paso County. That’s up two percentage points from last year. Thirty-four percent of people said they came from outside of Colorado, which is a decrease of one percent from last year. Five percent of people said they came from another county in Colorado.

The survey also found the following notes:

There was an increase of 217 emergency shelter beds, 72 of which were year-round beds. The other 145 were seasonal/overflow beds. When 513 people were surviving outdoors on the night of the PIT count, 170 emergency shelter beds were open, however, most of those open beds were restricted use: 84 were for special populations (youth, families, or respite) 21 were “high barrier” for single males or females (meaning cannot be under the influence of alcohol or drugs and be in the shelter); 65 remaining beds were not actual beds but mats on the floor, for single males or females, in the low-barrier winter warming shelter. The actual beds at Springs Rescue Mission (which is low-barrier, meaning one could come into shelter even if under the influence of alcohol or drugs) were full. The number of households with children remained stable with an increase of only one household, and unsheltered households with children decreased by two households. While the number of unsheltered Veterans increased by nine people, there was also an increase of 14 Veterans housed through permanent supportive housing.

The number of youth in transitional housing increased by 11, and the number of unsheltered youth decreased by three.