Who are our neighbors experiencing homelessness in our community?

To estimate the number of homeless individuals in our community on any given night, we need to look at those currently sheltered in emergency shelter and transitional housing programs, as well as the estimates of those staying in a place that is not a regular or permanent place to stay, such as outdoors, in a car or vacant building, a place of business and those currently doubled up with a friend or family member on a temporary basis because they have nowhere else to go.

We can estimate, through the Emergency Shelter Bed Prioritization list which is managed by all Emergency Shelters in partnership, as of the beginning of April 2020, there are a total of 113 individuals staying in a place that is not a regular or permanent place to stay and actively looking for access to a shelter bed. This could include places such as outdoors, in a car or vacant building, or in a place of business. These 113 individuals include adults, 6 school aged children (ages 5 to 18), and 9 children under the age of 5.

Those currently doubled up continues to be much more difficult number to gather, as those individuals are often the most unseen.  As of April 2020, 555 students were identified as homeless in our metro school districts.  At this same point, there are 33 school aged children were staying at the two emergency shelters that serve families and 6 school aged children were actively seeking shelter with their parents.  The remaining 516 students identified as homeless are most likely to be doubled up.  However, we believe that is a significant under-representation of those who are currently doubled up in our community.

Pulling this all together, on any given night, there are 1,022 individuals estimated to be experiencing homelessness in the FM Metro.

For details on demographics and information on complexities of homelessness, please see the the full report. For a printed copy of the Executive Summary, please contact the FM Coalition office.