Appendix 1: South Carolina Homeless - By the Numbers
This report is made possible by the hundreds of volunteers and staff working year-round on homelessness issues and working specifically, on January 27, 2005 when the first ever statewide count of the homeless was conducted. This is the first in a series of reports. The purpose of this report is to present statewide, actual count numbers, in an easy to use format.
Volunteers and staff at shelters and other nonprofit centers completed center surveys and interviewed both sheltered and unsheltered homeless for this report. They then entered the data into a statewide web-based application developed by David King, a consultant with a number of regional coalitions. Information in this report is drawn in-whole or in-part, exclusively from the data and the reports on Mr. King's website at http://tchc-web.org/count.
South Carolina Homeless Count, Sheltered and Unsheltered* By Gender
| Male | Female | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sheltered | 1,676 | 1,158 | 2,834 (44%) |
| Unsheltered | 2,721 | 926 | 3,647 (56%) |
| Total | 4,397 (68%) | 2,084 (32%) | 6,481 (100%) |
*These numbers reflect only the homeless as defined by HUD. Any persons living with friends of relatives (known as doubling up) are not reflected in this count. Also not included are those persons in permanent shelters. No attempts were made to systematically identify and include those living in substandard housing.
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.
Technical Note: Sheltered data from Form-4/6. Unsheltered data from Forms 3 (all) and 1 (marked as not sheltered). Percent sheltered surveyed (Form-1): 33% Percent unsheltered surveyed (Form-1): 30
Of the 6,481 homeless documented in South Carolina on the Count Day, more than one- third (2,068) completed a Form-1 Individual Survey, often with the aid of a volunteer. The following information was derived from that data within the Coalition.
The following numbers and percentages are based on those items which were answered. Please note that some participants did not answer all items, or they chose 'Don't know' or 'Refuse to answer' options. Inclusion or exclusion of various responses, along with rounding, may account for small differences between this report and other reports.
Where indicated, n is the number that responded to the question and did not select 'Don't know' or 'Refuse.'
Where surveyed? 86% were surveyed at a facility that provides shelter/housing or services to the homeless. The rest were at other locations where the homeless individuals were found. The top two other locations were 'on the street' (4.6%) and 'at a motel' (3.4%).
1) When did you start staying here? (n=1647, 14% Don't Know or Refused)
| Before 2002 | 6.2% |
|---|---|
| Before 2003 | 6.9% |
| First half of 2004 | 12.7% |
| Last half of 2004 | 45.1% |
| This year | 29.2% |
| Average | 04/06/2004 |
| Median | 11/03/2004 |
| Mode | 01/01/2005 |
| Minimum | 06/01/1969 |
2) Where did you stay before here? (n=2001, 3.2% Don't Know or Refused)
| Friend/Family: | 31% |
|---|---|
| Own Home: | 21% |
| Other Shelter: | 14% |
| Street: | 11% |
| Other: | 10% |
| Prison/Jail/Correctional: | 6% |
| Hospital or Other Treatment: | 5% |
| Car: | 2% |
| Military: | 0.2% |
3) How long were you in this circumstance? (n=1961, 5% Don't Know or Refused)
| Weeks: | 17% |
|---|---|
| Months: | 39% |
| About a Year: | 15% |
| More Than a Year: | 29% |
3a) County where first homeless (Top 5)? (n=1509, 5.5% Don't Know or Refused)
| Richland | 23.6% |
|---|---|
| Charleston | 14% |
| Greenville | 11.2% |
| Not in South Carolina | 8.3% |
| Horry | 5.9% |
4) What caused you to leave your former housing situation? (Can choose more than 1, n=1964)
| Unable to afford rent/mortgage | 17.4% |
|---|---|
| Loss of job/hours cut | 17.4% |
| Eviction | 9.3% |
| Home destroyed | 1.7% |
| Drinking or drug use problem | 19% |
| Being abused | 4.6% |
| Substandard housing | 2.8% |
| Left home/ran away | 2.5% |
| Breakup with spouse/significant other | 11.5% |
| Other (see 4a) | 13.8% |
4a) Reason leaving former housing situation. This open ended question led to 355 responses, such as:
Prison/Jail (n=57),
Health problems/work related injury (n=31),
Family/domestic violence (n=24),
Death in family (n=7),
Couldn't pay bills,
Substandard housing,
No transportation.
5) Have you been homeless 4 or more times in the past 3 years? (n=1873, 5.3% Don't Know or Refused)
Yes: 27%
No: 73%
6) How many times have you been homeless during your lifetime? (n=1722)
| One Time | 51% |
|---|---|
| Two Times | 19% |
| Three Times | 9% |
| Four Times | 7% |
| Five Times | 5% |
| Six Times | 2% |
| Seven Times | 7% |
| Average=2.3 (Median=1) | |
7) Age (n=1978, 4.4% Don't Know or Refused)
| Average Age | 42 |
|---|---|
| Median | 43 |
| Maximum | 86 |
8) State or country where you were born? (n=1887, 6.1% Don't Know or Refused)
| South Carolina | 60% |
|---|---|
| New York | 7.3% |
| North Carolina | 5% |
| Not USA | 2.8% |
| Georgia | 3% |
| Pennsylvania | 2.1% |
9) South Carolina county born in?
| Richland | 15% |
|---|---|
| Charleston | 14% |
| Greenville | 12% |
10) In school? (n=1923, 4.4% Don't Know or Refused)
Yes: 7%
No: 93%
11) Highest grade finished in school. (n=1827, 11.7% Don't Know or Refused)
| 8th | 3.3% |
|---|---|
| 9th | 6.5% |
| 10th | 10.6% |
| 11th | 11.1% |
| 12th | 41.4% |
| 1 year of college | 6.6% |
| 2 years of college | 6.2% |
| 4 years of college | 4.8% |
12) Gender (n=2032, 1.7% Don't Know or Refused)
Male: 66%
Female: 34%
13) Race (n=2004, 2.9% Don't Know or Refused)
| African American | 60% |
|---|---|
| White | 37% |
| Asian | .4% |
| Other | 2% |
14) Hispanic, Latino or Chicano origin (n=2011)
Yes: 2%
No: 98%
15) Current marital status: (n=1978, 4.1% Don't Know or Refused)
| Single | 53% |
|---|---|
| Married | 8% |
| Divorced | 20% |
| Widowed | 2.5% |
| Separated | 15% |
| Unmarried But With Mate | 2.5% |
16) Here with other family members? (n=1999, 3.3% Don't Know or Refused)
Yes: 20%
No: 80%
16a) If yes, how many?
| 1 family member | 6% |
|---|---|
| 2 family members | 1.4% |
| 3 family members | 0.4% |
| 4 family members | 0.3% |
| 5 family members | 0.1% |
| 6 family members | 0.0% |
17) Veteran? (n=1977, 4.4% Don't Know or Refused)
Yes: 20%
No: 80%
18) In this situation due to: (13.7% Don't Know or Refused)
| Violence (n=1836) | 18% |
|---|---|
| Danger (n=1801) | 12% |
| Safety (n=1856) | 25% |
59% indicated their situation was not related to violence, danger or needed safety issues.
19) Do you have a mental, physical or other impairment that limits you? (n=1954, 5.5% Don't Know or Refused)
Yes: 33%
20) Ever received care because of nervousness, depression, or mental health problems? (n=1948, 5.8% Don't Know or Refused)
Yes: 39%
21) Ever treated for alcohol or drug problem? (n=1963, 5.1% Don't Know or Refused)
Yes: 44%
22) Ever told by a professional that you are HIV positive or have AIDS? (n=1965, 5% Don't Know or Refused)
Yes: 5%
This report was developed for the South Carolina Department of Mental Health, Housing and Homeless Program, by the SCDMH/ Institute for Behavioral Services. For any questions regarding the content of this report, please contact A. Maletic at amm02@scdmh.org, 803-898-1148.