Homelessness - Charts
Loveland - Berthoud Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN)
401 East 6th Street, Loveland
IHN provides emergency shelter, food, and comprehensive counseling to homeless families with children. The Network utilizes eleven area host congregations and three supporting congregations of various faiths to provide the overnight shelter, and volunteers (over 2,100 in the community) who provide meals in a family-style setting. During the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., the families stay at the IHN day center (The Angel House). They are involved in life skills training, budgeting classes, educational opportunities and affordable housing acquisition. At 5:00 p.m. families are transported to a host church, which provides each family with a bedroom set up by the volunteers.
In 2007, 31 families (107 individuals) were served by IHN. The average length of stay during this year was 50 days, which was thought by the staff to be due to a lack of available jobs that offer self-sufficient wages and benefits. These longer stays limit the network's ability to accommodate new families, but the number of calls looking for assistance seems to have remained the same. The individuals served by IHN were primarily Caucasian (79.4%), Hispanics comprised 14% and there was an over-representation of African American individuals at 6.5% (said to be due to the low number of African Americans in the Larimer County population).
Larimer County School Districts
Data about homeless students are tracked by the school districts in Larimer County. Students lacking a fixed, regular, and adequate residence are considered homeless under the McKinney Act. These students are not necessarily staying in Larimer County shelters, but may be living with friends, relatives, other families, in cars, etc. Student counts are taken in October and again in the spring to establish the school year-end unduplicated total.
What this chart shows: Homeless Student Counts in Larimer County School Districts
* Data suppressed to protect confidentiality
Data Sources: Poudre School District, Thompson School District, and Park School District
What these data tell us:
Prior to 2001, data were only reported for students in pre-school through sixth grade in Poudre School District. The district is continuing to improve its methods for identifying homeless students. The identification of homeless students is difficult, and staff is doubtful that these numbers reflected the exact numbers of homeless students.In Thompson School District, methods of counting homeless students were not consistent until after the 2001-2002 school year. The District is now making a more concerted effort to accurately document homeless counts; however, it is unknown why there is such a large fluctuation in the number of homeless students. The District speculates that the fluctuation of homeless students may be due to the students and their families finding permanent housing or possibly leaving the area.
Beginning in 2004, the Park School District was in the process of improving its data collection methods in an attempt to measure true homeless numbers in their schools. Numbers prior to 2005 were considered too low to report in an effort to maintain confidentiality.
Fort Collins Police Department
The Fort Collins Police Department tracks the number of calls it receives on 'transient' individuals. The Department's computer system is programmed to count the number of times calls or complaints are registered with the term 'transient'. Until last year, the average number of 'transient' calls to the Fort Collins Police Department had ranged from 350-400 calls per year. That number seems to be on the decline with 280 transient-related calls received in 2007.
While other police departments in Larimer County do not collect data on transients or homeless individuals, Estes Park does keep track of the assistance it gives to individuals in the forms of grocery store gift cards, gas vouchers, hotel vouchers, or taxi/bus fare. In 2007, 6 gift cards at $10 each, no gas vouchers, 9 hotel vouchers for one night stays, and no vouchers for taxi fare were given out. These vouchers are given out only during the evening and weekend hours when Crossroads Ministry of Estes Park is closed. In 2007, Crossroads Ministry distributed twenty-five vouchers for hotel stays, the majority being for one night only.
Loveland Police Department provides Chaplin assistance, referrals to The Mission, House of Neighborly Services, and 2-1-1.
Data Tables:
Number of Homeless Students in Larimer County School Districts
|
School Year Ending |
Poudre |
Thompson |
Park |
|
2003 |
603 |
111 |
* |
|
2004 |
635 |
129 |
* |
|
2005 |
555 |
280 |
13 |
|
2006 |
646 |
90 |
22 |
|
2007 |
740 |
155 |
33 |
*number suppressed to protect confidentiality