The preliminary estimate was that on one day (January 27 this year) there were at least 2,655 people, including 715 children, homeless in Kansas City. In past years, before the economic downturn, about 15,000 people became homeless over the course of the year. There are an unknown number who are not counted in the survey. These are the homeless who couch surf with families and friends or stay in a weekly motel.
It makes me realize that our goal is for homelessness to be just a point in time for the families in our transitional housing program.
Right now, half of our families were raised by grandparents or other relatives. Like foster kids who age out of the foster care system, these young parents have no one left to fall back on. They didn’t have families or friends to give them a place to stay when they became homeless.
We can see the impact of the downturn in the economy in a lot of ways. Today, there are 64 families on the waiting list for an apartment. A surprising 30% of our families are two parent families. In a typical year, less than 10% of the families have two parents. We are also seeing more families from situational poverty rather than generational poverty.
We will help most of our families ensure that they don’t become homeless at any other point in time. We will provide about 36,000 bed nights this year. The average family will stay for 7 months. What they learn while they are here will ensure that, for at least our two year follow-up period, more than 8 out of 10 will not become homeless again.
-Laura Gray
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