2005 Summary Analysis of the South Carolina Homeless Population

Homeless Count Numbers and Estimates

a. Homeless Count: On January 27, 2005, there were 6,481 homeless persons counted in South Carolina. This included almost 3,000 homeless persons in homeless shelters and over 3,600 persons in unsheltered locations. (See table below). Of these, 989 were children. Sixty-eight percent are male and 32 percent are female. See Appendix 2 for county and regional numbers of children, adults, sheltered, and unsheltered.

Table 1: South Carolina Homeless Count, Sheltered and Unsheltered* By Gender

*These numbers reflect the Homeless Count data from January 27, 2005 which was aimed at counting those defined as homeless by HUD. Any persons living with friends or relatives (known as doubled-up) are not reflected in this count. Also not included are those in permanent shelters.

Please note: due to the vagaries of volunteer efforts, these numbers reflect, by county, a wide range of effort. Forty percent of counties reported 5 or less homeless persons.
 

b. Unsheltered Homeless Count: The unsheltered count consists of a 'moment in time' unduplicated tally of people living 'on the street' in downtown areas across the state, and when known, in outlying areas such as abandoned houses, under bridges and similar structures. The unsheltered homeless go to great lengths to protect themselves from view in their efforts to survive each night. Given this fact, the count is generally considered an undercount. It is intended to foster an understanding of the patterns of survival for some of the people who are homeless.

Information from each of the five regional coalitions was used to develop a rating of the effort, by county, in counting the unsheltered. That rating was used in the following section regarding a Homeless Count Estimate. It should be noted that 22 of the 46 South Carolina counties reported 5 or less unsheltered homeless.

One of the tough issues for a number of coalitions was learning the best way to involve local and county law enforcement in the unsheltered count. In some cases, uniformed police accompanied interviewers on Count Day. Interviewers accompanied by uniformed police found few homeless persons willing to talk with them. In some cases, police and county sheriffs spent time with volunteer interviewers and drove around ahead of the Count Day to places where homeless persons were known to stay. Thus, it may be noted that law enforcement may play a larger role in identifying the 'observed' but difficult to interview homeless rather than those homeless who can be interviewed in public areas. Interviewers in Columbia found that just spending time in public parks and libraries created many opportunities to interview both sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons.
 

c. Sheltered Homeless Count: The 2005 Count of 2,834 sheltered homeless persons included counts from all but a few of the sheltered facilities in South Carolina. This includes those in emergency and transitional shelters. A few of the private shelters chose not to participate. An option was made available to the Coalitions and counties to provide that information for those shelters if enough was known about them (number of beds and services offered). In some of the cases that option was followed. An estimate of the facilities and number of beds not included in the Count is not available, but is considered to be very small.

Persons in homeless shelters were possibly counted on both the Provider Survey Form, and with the Individual Survey Form. Any persons included in both surveys were 'adjusted-out' of the total count to ensure they were counted only one time.

The Provider Survey component of the count is carried out with the administrative support of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and is compatible with the HMIS system, developed for HUD information. In the future it is expected that the HMIS system may provide the capacity and enrollment information needed for the sheltered count. Currently, the system reflects that the number of shelters and capacity found during the January Count is on-target and generally accurate.

While this total of 6,481 sheltered and unsheltered, is considered valid and documented, many professionals working in the homeless field acknowledge this number as an undercount. It reflects the number of homeless counted on one day when less than adequate resources were available to count in many counties.

This report presents an estimate based on the count that attempts to adjust the shortcomings of the actual homeless count. The Homeless Count Estimate is presented below.

Additionally, when considering the number of homeless in South Carolina, it is often useful to consider the number of persons that are homeless during the year instead of those homeless on the day of the Count. The Total Annualized Homeless estimate is presented below.
 

d. Homeless Count Estimate: A better representation of the homeless count may be an estimated 10,355 rather than the actual count of 6,481. This estimate is based on a methodology - documented in the appendix of this report - and reviewed by a subcommittee, which compensates for the poor Quality of Count in many counties using a 'quality of unsheltered count,' population figures, and the actual count numbers. (See Appendix 2). The methodology substitutes a defined minimum for those counties that reported minimal or no effort in counting homeless. This number represents what is considered to be a "truer" number of those who would be counted as homeless on the count day if more effort, work or interviewers been available on the day of the count. This number was developed due to the limited effort available for the unsheltered count.

Given there is information on homes that are substandard in the majority of these counties, and persons living in those homes should be counted as homeless, it is expected that increased effort would have brought homeless count numbers well above the estimated 10,355 homeless in South Carolina.
 

e. Total Annualized Homeless: The Annualized Homeless estimate for South Carolina in 2005 is 32,335 homeless persons. The Homeless Count of 6,481 is based on a count of the homeless on one particular day. The Annualized Homeless estimate uses the actual count from the one-day event, and given the length of homelessness and stay of those interviewed, estimates the number of different people that are homeless during the year. The estimate is based on how quickly persons cycle in and out of homeless shelters and unsheltered locations.

This Annualized estimate is broken down by county and region in Appendix 2. Clearly, this annualized estimate would be higher if the 10,355 estimated number of homeless was used instead of the 6,481 actual count total.
 

f. Doubled-Up and At-Risk Homeless: The Count does not include persons in 'doubled-up' or 'couch-surfing' situations. Persons in "doubled-up" situations are typically considered to be persons that live temporarily with someone willing to let them sleep on a couch or floor. If the Count had included persons in 'doubled-up' situations the number would have been much higher; however, it would have been necessary to knock on every door to find this information.

The count does not include the thousands of people throughout South Carolina who are living in substandard housing, or in trailers without running water or electricity, especially in the more rural areas of the county. Within cities and small rural towns there are many families that are secretly doubled or tripled up on a permanent basis in one unit, or are paying for motel rooms on a daily or weekly basis, hoping to somehow save enough money for a permanent place of their own. There are numerous apartment complexes in the Columbia area where it is clear that there are extended immigrant families and very little English spoken.

One indicator of the number of persons in doubled-up situations is the difference between the number of homeless children in the Count (989) versus the number of children counted as homeless (6,139) by the schools. The schools, by law, utilize the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act definition which includes 'doubled-up' children. Using the ratio of 989 to 6,139, there are more than six times as many children considered homeless when the 'doubled-up' are included. Applying that ratio to the count number (all ages) means there would be 40,247 rather than the 6,481 count. It is not known if the 40,247 is considered to be an accurate representation of the homeless including the 'doubled-up' in South Carolina.

When using rules of thumb that have been developed and used in recent years, some estimates indicate over 100,000 South Carolinians are at-risk of homelessness (based on poverty figures in South Carolina). Wilder Research Center, well known for their study of the homeless in Minnesota, estimates that 10% of poor households and 4% of non-poor had friends or family staying with them because of unaffordable housing. If similar percentages of doubled-up households exist in South Carolina, then there would be almost 224,000 persons in South Carolina in doubled-up situations (see Appendix, Column S).

It is important to note that many of the At-Risk Homeless seek many of the same services as do the homeless: food stamps, soup kitchens, job assistance, clothing, medical treatment, mental health care and food bank/food subsidies. The At-Risk Homeless are generally considered to be those persons who but for a lost pay-check or broken down car would find themselves within the ranks of the homeless, or doubled-up.
 

g. Chronic Homelessness: Chronic Homelessness, as defined by HUD, is a subset of the total count. It is a fairly strenuous definition that requires chronic homeless adults to 1) be homeless more than a year or homeless more than 4 times in three years, 2) not be a part of a family group and 3) have a disability.

Based on the survey of a one-third sample of the homeless counted, the total chronic homeless number in South Carolina is estimated 2,207 (31% of 6,481). This percentage is based on participant responses to "have you been homeless four or more times in the past 3 years" and questions regarding whether they were homeless more than a year, or are with one or more family members, or have received Mental health services, alcohol and drug services or have any mental, physical or other impairment. This number is made up of 29% of those in shelters and 38% of those unsheltered. This estimate is probably low due to data difficulties related to the analysis being able to consider those who have been homeless more than a year.

Table 2: Total Chronic Homeless in South Carolina As of January 2005 Count

Chronic Homeless as defined by HUD are persons that are homeless for more than a year or more than 4 times in 3 years, not in a family group and with a noted disability.

One of the assumptions underlying the estimate is that the homeless we interviewed represent all homeless. It is possible that those homeless we interviewed are 'better-off' and 'less-chronically homeless' than those we did not interview. Therefore, these chronic estimates may be understated.