Every Dollar Makes a Difference
Learn the Facts
Understanding homelessness is the first step to making homelessness rare and brief.
In Baltimore City, 5,230 people experienced homelessness at some point over the course of one year. These estimates are approximate, based on Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data.
- 6% are people 62 years or older
- 9% are people currently fleeing domestic violence (*This does not account for people fleeing domestic violence not counted in HMIS.)
- 3% are youth (18-24) head of households
In Baltimore City, 388 veterans experienced homelessness at some point over the course of one year.
This is 6% of the overall population of people experiencing homelessness during that time period.
In Baltimore City, many crises of homelessness are unforeseen.
About 15% of households experiencing homelessness are entering the homeless service system for the first time.
You Can
Make A Difference
To make homelessness rare and brief requires a long-term commitment from all community stakeholders. The private sector can play a key role in supporting the creation of permanent supportive housing for the homeless.
Our Goals
The Journey Home plan has five primary objectives
Description of Need
To afford a two-bedroom apartment in Baltimore, a household would need full-time employment paying $27.13 an hour, the equivalent of working 2.7 full-time jobs at minimum wage.
This is only exacerbating by steadily increasing utility costs that further destabilize low-income residents.
The Stats
More than fifty percent of Baltimore renters live in housing they cannot afford and 33% are spending more than half of their income on housing.
The Solution
Increasing the supply of affordable housing is essential in our efforts to make homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring and will yield the best and most cost-effective long-term results. The six interventions within this strategy present a robust, multi-pronged approach to expand opportunities for safe, decent, and affordable housing and supportive services to promote the highest level of independence and community integration for the range of individuals and families impacted by homelessness.
Description of Need
In an effort to achieve the greatest impact with limited resources, communities across the country are transitioning from fragmented programs toward coordinated, system-level responses to addressing their community’s homelessness. While we have developed several of the building blocks of an effective homeless response system, our system remains convoluted and burdensome to navigate.
The Stats
Approximately 8 out of 10 households experiencing homelessness assessed through the Coordinated Access system are not matched to a housing intervention.
The Solution
The areas of intervention seek to improve coordinated access efficacy and capacity, establish a prevention and diversion strategy, ensure comprehensive street outreach capacity, and introduce standards of care for service delivery across all homeless service programs.
Description of Need
Our emergency shelter system continues to face significant challenges related to both the capacity and quality of the shelter and available services. Providing homeless households with a temporary, safe, and supportive environment to address barriers to housing strengthens our system and encourages households experiencing homelessness to seek the assistance needed to end their homelessness.
The Stats
More than one hundred people have been staying in emergency shelter for longer than one year.
The Solution
In light of significant deficiencies, our efforts to transform the emergency shelter system will include necessary improvements to the physical conditions, service delivery model, discharge coordination, and transportation and access to shelter.
Description of Need
Housing and employment are inextricably linked, and households experiencing homelessness rely jointly on workforce and homeless service systems to provide opportunities that lead to housing and economic stability. However, these two systems operate independently of one another and providers are not equipped with the resources to simultaneously address housing and economic needs, leaving many households under-served by both systems.
The Stats
While only 17% of adults in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) maintained or increased employment income, we know that two-thirds of people experiencing homelessness express interest in employment and 13% of people assessed by Coordinated Access were working, but not earning enough to become or remain housed.
The Solution
A comprehensive employment and income strategy and cross-sector solutions are necessary to support the goals of homeless jobseekers, eliminate barriers to employment and income stability, and assist homeless persons in obtaining and sustaining housing. This plan will integrate employment & income resources through a two-pronged system-wide referral process.
Description of Need
The preponderance of evidence demonstrating racialized inequities within homeless service systems and across multiple other systems compels us to adopt a racial equity lens. The numbers of African Americans seeking homeless assistance is staggering both nationally and locally, as people of color experience homelessness at significantly greater rates, even when controlling for poverty.
The Stats
Analysis of our own system demonstrated that 79% of all individuals and 87% of young adults in HMIS identified as Black or African American.
The Solution
Once we have completed the necessary data analysis and established our race equity agenda, we must reform practices and policies that perpetuate or exacerbate racial disparities. Thereafter, we will embed race equity principles, expectations, and requirements in all aspects of the CoC planning, service delivery, and policies.