Facts About Homelessness and
Our Homeless Neighbors
(updated June 2009)

When you think about a homeless person, do you think about…

• A single mother making minimum wage who loses the struggle to afford rent, childcare, transportation and food

• A family whose father suffers a debilitating illness and is unable to work

• A man who suffers from mental illness without the resources for treatment

• A child who ages out of the foster care system at age 18

• A family with children living paycheck to paycheck when the mother is laid off

• A young man caught up in the despair of drug and alcohol addictions

• A woman escaping an abusive relationship with nothing but the clothes on her back

• A man who because he is homeless without an address, phone number, clean clothes, a place to shower and food can’t not secure gainful employment despite having needed skills

• A elderly couple living on a fixed income facing rising rents, insurance, and medication costs

• A family living in their car because the apartment they struggled to afford has been converted to condos; the parents terrified they will lose their children

All these situations are true; real people who have become homeless in Hillsborough County.

While most people have only one picture of what homelessness is – there is no “one” type of homeless person.  Homeless people are men, women, and children, families and individuals, young and old, full-time workers and unemployed, with and without addiction and/or mental illness.  Homelessness crosses all lines – racial, religious, class, ethnic and culture – and affects everyone.

Causes of Homelessness
While there is no one single cause of homelessness, the biggest contributing factor to the rising number of homelessness is the shortage of affordable housing for people with limited incomes.

Our homeless neighbors in Hillsborough County, when given a list of options, said the reason they became homeless is:

Employment / Financial Reasons     50.0 percent
Family Problems                            15.2 percent
Housing Issues                              13.1 percent
Medical / Disability Problems           12.8 percent
Forced to Relocate                           7.3 percent
Natural Disaster (storms, fire)          1.2 percent
Other                                             0.4 percent

Homelessness in Hillsborough County

The 2009 Hillsborough County Homeless Coalition Homeless Count, conducted on February 26, 2009 found:

• 9,566 men, women and children are homeless in Hillsborough County* 

• Hillsborough has the largest homeless population in the state of Florida; nearly 20 percent of homeless people in Florida reside in Hillsborough County.

• 23 percent are children

• 61 percent are male; 39 percent are female

• 57 percent are Caucasian

• 36 percent are African-American

• 14 percent are Latino

• 17 percent are veterans

• 40 percent have a source of income

• Of the 40 percent with income, 25 percent are employed

• 81 percent do NOT have a drug or alcohol addiction

• 63 percent do NOT have a mental illness

•   3 percent have the HIV/AIDS virus

• 38 percent have a physical disability

• 88 percent became homeless in Florida

• 41 percent are experiencing homelessness for the first time

• 22 percent have been homeless for a month or less

• 42 percent have been homeless for more than a month, but less than a year

• 25 percent have been homeless at least 4 times

• There are approximately 1,500 emergency and shelter beds in Hillsborough County - thus at least 8,000 homeless men, women and children will not be able to find shelter tonight.

• More than 1,700 children attending Hillsborough County Public Schools were homeless on the day of the homeless census.

2009 Homelessness and Our Community Fact Sheet

Demographics of Homeless Population in Hillsborough County
Includes comparison to 2005 and 2007 homeless count
(i.e. percent of males/females, ages, ethnicity, etc.)

Summary of Where Census Numbers were Gathered
(street and shelters, school system, jail, etc.)
 

 *The definition mandated for homeless counts by the federal government is the most restrictive of the nine different federal definitions. Thus persons ‘doubled up,’ staying in motel rooms or living in tents due to a lack of adequate alternative housing are not included in this number.

Homelessness in Florida

The Florida Department of Children and Families’ Office on Homelessness 2009 Report on Homeless Conditions in Florida, states that in Florida…

• 57,687 men, women and children are homeless in Florida*

• Florida has the 3rd largest homeless population in the nation
  (Third Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, U.S. Housing and Urban Development, 2008.)

• 16 percent are children

• 32 percent are women

• 17 percent are veterans

•   9 percent have a history of being in foster care

• 50 percent have never been homeless before

• 38 percent have been homeless for less than 3 months

• The majority of homeless people in Florida are our neighbors who have lived here for awhile as 68% have lived in the County they reside for least a year.
   

*The definition mandated for homeless counts by the federal government is the most restrictive of the nine different federal definitions. Thus persons ‘doubled up,’ staying in motel rooms or living in tents due to a lack of adequate alternative housing are not included in this number.

Homelessness in the United States

• The 2008 Annual Homeless Assessment Report on Sheltered and Unsheltered Homeless found that in the United States:

• 664,414 people were homeless on a single night in January 2008

• Three-fifths of homeless people stay in emergency shelters for less than a month and one-third stay less than a week

• Nationwide, there are approximately two beds for homeless and formerly homeless persons per 1,000 people in the United States

A report released by the National Center on Family Homelessness in early March 2009 found "more than 1.5 million children are homeless annually in the United States - one in every 50 American children."