Fact check/Does Utah have a homelessness crisis?

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Fact check: Does Utah have a homelessness crisis?

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February 8, 2017
By Fact Check by Ballotpedia staff

Addressing his fellow lawmakers during the January 23 opening session of the Utah House of Representatives, Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, said, “This state has a homelessness crisis amongst us.”[1]

Is Hughes correct? Does Utah have a homelessness crisis?

No. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has published annual estimates of homeless populations at both the national and state level since 2007.[2] Between 2007 and 2016, Utah saw reductions in both its total homeless population (6.8 percent) and those defined as “chronically homeless” (72 percent), while at the same time, the population of the state grew by 13 percent.[3] [4] The total homeless population in 2016 was the lowest number in a decade.[2]

The number of homeless nationwide also declined during that period. The percentage decline in Utah’s total homeless population was 8.2 percentage points less than the percentage decline nationwide, but Utah’s decline in chronic homelessness was 50.9 percentage points greater than the nation as a whole.[5]

Background: counting the homeless

HUD is required by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 to submit an annual report to Congress on progress in reducing homelessness.[6]

Starting in 2007, HUD began publishing online the results of a nationwide count of the homeless conducted each January.[7] [5] Known as a point-in-time (PIT) count, it is conducted by volunteers working with local and regional agencies that coordinate services for the homeless.[8] On a single night in January, the volunteers count people in homeless shelters, transitional housing, and designated safe havens for the homeless, as well as the unsheltered homeless on the streets.

The counts are based on HUD’s definition of homelessness. HUD defines as “homeless” those who lack a "fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.”[9] Within that general group, HUD defines the “chronically homeless” as individuals with disabilities who are homeless “continuously for at least 12 months or on at least 4 separate occasions in the last 3 years, as long as the combined occasions equal at least 12 months and each break in homelessness separating the occasions included at least 7 consecutive nights” of not being homeless.[10]

In its annual report to Congress, HUD stresses that the PIT counts only reflect “a single night in January.”[11] Other limitations of the PIT count have been noted.[12] For example, it does not include homeless people temporarily staying with friends and family. It also does not include the unsheltered who are concealed from the volunteers on the night of the count. HUD describes the results of the count as “estimates,” and they are used for program planning and to measure program progress.[8]

Utah’s plan to end chronic homelessness

In 2004, Utah’s State Homeless Coordinating Committee, which “provides oversight and approves allocations of funding for providers of homeless services,” published a 10-year plan for ending chronic homelessness in the state.[13] [14] The plan focuses on a “housing first” strategy. “This places a priority on providing persons experiencing homelessness a permanent place to live and the necessary support services to be successfully housed long-term,” the committee explained its report on the plan.[14] According to an April 2015 presentation by the Utah Department of Workforce Services, the advantage of the “housing first” approach is that if the “chaos of homelessness is eliminated, clinical and social stabilization occur faster and are more enduring.”[15]

State and national trends

Between 2007 and 2016, the total number of the homeless in Utah declined 6.8 percent, from 3,011 to 2,807. The number of the chronically homeless declined 79 percent, from 801 to 168.[5] At the same time, the state population increased by 13 percent.[3] [4]



During that same period, the total homeless population and the chronic homeless population nationwide also decreased. The total number of the homeless declined 15 percent, from 647,258 to 549,928. The number of the chronically homeless declined 28.1 percent, from 119,813 to 86,132.[5]



Conclusion

During the January 23 opening session of the Utah House of Representatives, Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, said, “This state has a homelessness crisis amongst us.”[1] That is inaccurate. Federal data show declines in both the state’s total homeless population and its population of chronically homeless at the same time that the state’s population has increased.[5]


See also

Sources and Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Utah State Legislature, “House, Day 1 2017, Part 1: Speaker’s Remarks,” accessed February 6, 2017 Speaker Hughes' comment comes at the 41:30 mark in the video.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 HUD Exchange, “2016 AHAR: Part 1 - PIT Estimates of Homelessness in the U.S.,” accessed February 6, 2017
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Utah State Legislature, Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, "Utah’s Economic and Demographic Trends Affecting Legislative Decision-Making," 2008
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 United States Census Bureau, "State Population Totals Tables: 2010-2016," accessed February 6, 2017
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 HUD Exchange, “2007 - 2016 Point-in-Time Estimates by State,” accessed February 6, 2017
  6. ↑ HUD Exchange, “The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, As amended by S. 896 The Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009,” accessed February 6, 2017
  7. ↑ U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Community Planning and Development, “The Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress,” February 2007
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “Point-in-Time Count Methodology Guide, 2014,” September 2014
  9. ↑ Code of Federal Regulations, “24 CFR, 578.3,” accessed February 6, 2017
  10. ↑ Code of Federal Regulations, “24 CFR 578.3, accessed February 6, 2017
  11. ↑ U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,Office of Community Planning and Development, “The 2016 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress,“ September 2016
  12. ↑ West Virginia Interagency Council on Homelessness, “Opening Doors in West Virginia, A Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, 2015-2020,” December 2015
  13. ↑ Utah Department of Workforce Services, ”State Homeless Coordinating Committee: Overview,” accessed February 6, 2017
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Utah Department of Community Services and Economic Development, “Utah State Homeless Coordinating Committee’s Ten-Year Strategic Action Plan to End Chronic Homelessness,” July 13, 2004
  15. ↑ Utah Department of Workforce Services, “Utah’s Chronic Homeless Approach,” April 2015
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