PERSPECTIVE: The toll of homelessness
We’re proud to call Denver home. Our capital city has few rivals when it comes beauty and quality of life. Sadly, a walk around downtown or a drive by a highway underpass in the metro area puts one of our biggest public policy challenges on full display. The proliferation of tents and temporary shelters paint a harsh reality; the number of people experiencing homelessness is growing.
Despite the compassion and allocation of resources, we have yet to solve the most heart-breaking issue facing our cities and our region. Homelessness is impacting our streets, our budgets, and our businesses. But, more than that, it is tearing at the moral fiber of our communities. We have an obligation to address this challenge and find solutions to support those in need.
Last week, the Common Sense Institute released Homelessness in Metro Denver: An Opportunity to Transform Resources & the Existing System. The study quantifies the resources dedicated to addressing homelessness in the Denver Metro region. CSI has taken on this issue and sought to provide elected officials and citizens with the facts about the growing population of people experiencing homelessness and the increasing amount of resources we, as taxpayers and community members, are investing to help individuals experiencing homelessness.
The tally grows
The facts are eye-opening, and the numbers are staggering.
According to the analysis, the number of individuals experiencing homelessness continues to grow and at the same time resources spent continues to grow. More than $1.7 billion will be spent over three years (2021, 2022 and 2023) to combat the issue. Let that number sink in — $1.7 billion.
This is the second year that CSI embarked on this study. It is not meant to criticize, but rather to bring a transparent lens on the facts to the debate. The facts are paramount to understanding the impact of the resources dedicated to solving homelessness and better defining the size and scope of the issue. We firmly believe that understanding where we are will not only help us chart a solution, but also help those living in tents and temporary shelters move into programs that support their recovery and provide opportunities for work and self-sufficiency.
Understanding how many people are homeless is a difficult challenge. CSI used the annual Point In Time (PIT) count as a starting point. The PIT is an annual study. Volunteers go out into the community and literally count every unhoused person. Realizing that the PIT misses people, organizations like the Colorado Coalition for the Homelessness usually multiple the PIT by 2.5. We also include in our estimates those in permanent supportive housing, as they are not counted in the PIT annually.
Not everyone agrees on the count. Acknowledging that issue, the report considered and provided a range of population count that includes three estimates.
The bottom line, the population of people experiencing homelessness is growing. The total metro Denver population of individuals experiencing homelessness grew by 13% from 2020 to 2022; over that time, the unsheltered population, those individuals who sleep outside rather than in a shelter, grew by 33% to its highest level since 2008.
The unsheltered population is up 120% since 2019.
One bright spot, the metropolitan Denver region’s veteran homeless population is down 31% since 2020, which is consistent with trends in other parts of the county that emphasized reforms and resources dedicated to this population.
At what cost?
Understanding expenditures was no small task. CSI spent months gathering information from nonprofit organizations by reviewing IRS 990 forms and meeting with providers to confirm their expenditures. CSI took a deep dive into city and state budgets, to determine unique government spending that wasn’t granted out. In their research, CSI was careful not to double count expenditures and even eliminated nearly $400 million from total charitable organization expenditures.
Conservatively more than $1.7 billion will be spent over three years (2021, 2022 and 2023) to combat the issue.
The study also found that the total amount of annual spending is expected to increase from $465 million in 2021 to an estimated $660 million in 2023. This is a 42% increase over those two years ($195 million). It is important to note that the increase is due, in part, to a temporary infusion of federal COVID-19 emergency funds. These one-time funds could have the potential to truly transform the system.
The 2023 expenditure per individual experiencing homelessness or in permanent supportive housing in metro Denver is expected to be between $31,428 and $61,871. Spending per person in the city of Denver is expected to be between $37,309 and $73,450. These figures are well within the range published by organizations like the Colorado Coalition for Homeless or National Alliance to End Homeless.
Although the data are limited, CSI found that approximately 4,000 to 7,000 employees and 55,000 to 85,000 volunteers work for programs addressing homelessness in the Denver metropolitan area. In other words, there is approximately one job related to serving and addressing homelessness for every two individuals experiencing homelessness or in permanent supportive housing.
Many times, you’ll hear folks say, we just need to build more beds. As part of the study, CSI looked at how many beds we have. In 2021, there were 12,500 year-round beds in the Denver metropolitan area according to the HUD Continuum of Care count. Between 2014 and 2021, the number of permanent housing beds rose by 203% (from 2,192 to 6,634).
Despite spending half a billion dollars a year (and it increasing annually), the number of individuals experiencing homelessness is growing as well. We have to ask ourselves as a community, could we do better?
Time to shift tack?
The good news? There are successful programs that are working in other parts of the country. While Denver experienced an increase in homelessness over the past five years, the homeless populations in Houston, Texas, Rockford, Illinois and Washington, D.C. decreased. And, the San Antonio, Texas population has increased by less than Denver’s.
Surprisingly and despite the unsettling findings in this study, the research offers hope. Ultimately CSI’s research finds that while the problems are complicated, solving this challenge is not a problem of resources. Other cities are doing it. We can too. We can fix this with good leadership and the business community stands ready to do their part. But it starts with transparency and accountability.
We simply cannot continue to spend more without results. It is question of humanity and compassion. Failure is simply not an option. The impacts are far ranging for our communities, our businesses, our way of life, and most important, the health and welfare of our fellow citizens.
This report has defined the facts and provided a clear snapshot on where we are as a community. It’s time to lean in and solve this challenge. It’s time.