A snapshot of Honolulu’s houseless population
This year's Point in Time count of Oʻahu’s houseless population was the most accurate yet thanks to a new database and better organization.
Each year the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires the City & County of Honolulu to conduct a Point in Time (PIT) count of Oʻahu’s houseless individuals and families. Literally a snapshot of the houseless population, the PIT happens on a random day during the beginning of the year. This year, the PIT took place on the night of January 22, 2014.
Access to the new Homeless Management Information Systems database helped the Honolulu Department of Community Services better plan its count strategy, resulting in a more accurate count of Oʻahu’s houseless than in previous years. As expected, this also resulted in a higher count than ever before. The PIT report noted, however, that even with the increased accuracy and higher count, there are almost certainly individuals and families that still went uncounted.
Some findings:
This year’s count identified a total of 4,712 houseless people on Oʻahu: 2,356 individuals and an equal 2,356 people living in families.
Out of the total houseless population counted, 1,633 people are currently unsheltered, an 11.47 percent increase over last year.
There was a slight decline in the number of houseless people living in families since 2013, but also a 7.3 percent increase in total houseless people.
These numbers reflect a steady overall increase of houseless people over the last several years.
“While the number of homeless individuals and families were exactly the same, 92 percent of Oʻahu’s homeless families were sheltered on the night of the count, while just 39 percent of homeless individuals were sheltered,” according to the PIT report.
The report also found an increase in unsheltered “chronically” houseless individuals, going from 505 in 2013 to 558 this year. The Hawaiʻi State Department of Human Services (DHS) defines “chronic” as:
An unaccompanied homeless individual with a disabling condition who has been continuously homeless (sleeping in a place not meant for human habitation or in an emergency shelter) for a year or more; or an unaccompanied individual with a disabling condition who has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years.
The PIT also revealed that a considerable segment of this unsheltered, chronically houseless population suffers from severe mental illness and/or substance abuse. This creates a major barrier to utilizing emergency or transitional shelters, most of which require treatment and sobriety as preconditions to admittance.
Mayor Kirk Caldwell released a statement in response to the PIT report, in which he said:
There are people who fall through the cracks in the system and end up on the street. Whether it’s due to mental illness, substance abuse, or a combination of the two, these are the most visible and vulnerable among us, and we have the obligation to care for them. Many of our unsheltered chronically homeless people suffer from severe mental illness and substance abuse. Housing First is proven to place this extremely challenging population into permanent supportive housing. It saves money over cycling them through our prisons, emergency rooms, and shelters, and it’s the humane thing to do.
