State’s sheltered homeless population is 10 in 10,000

Ten in every 10,000 Ohioans are experiencing sheltered homelessness, the annual federal homelessness report says.

The state’s change in the assessment of 2023 is 6.9% from 2022, and 1.1% from 2007.

The 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report is conducted by the Office of Community Planning and Development within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is provided to Congress and is generally referred to as the Point In Time count. Key metrics are housing inventory count; national, state and continuums of care counts and estimates of homelessness; and estimates of homeless people, veterans, children and youth.

Through volunteers across the country, a single night is measured. The night chosen was in December and found 653,100 — 20 in 10,000 — were experiencing homelessness throughout the country. That’s up 12%.”Experiencing homelessness” for definition in this report is “a person who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.” An “individual experiencing chronic homelessness” means a person with a disability who has been continuously experiencing homelessness for one year or more, or “has experienced four episodes of homelessness in the last three years where the combined length of time experiencing homelessness on those occasions is at least 12 months.”

“Unsheltered homelessness” refers to those whose “primary nighttime location is a public or private place not designated for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation.” Examples are streets, vehicles and parks. “Sheltered homelessness” is people staying in emergency shelters, transitional housing programs or safe havens.

The report had total homelessness for the state at 11,386, with 78.9% (8,983) sheltered.

The report estimated 623 veterans are homeless. Other estimates were 8,253 individuals; 3,133 people in families with children; 796 unaccompanied homeless youth; and 1,232 chronically homeless individuals.