3
  Comparing Currently with Formerly Homeless
 Clients and Other Service Users

Use of Homeless Assistance Programs

Clients' use of various homeless assistance programs, including food and other programs in addition to shelters, is reported in table 3.10. Program use within the week before being interviewed for NSHAPC shows significant variation by homeless status. Soup kitchens are the most commonly used program among currently and formerly homeless clients (31 and 35 percent, respectively, report using them at least once during the week before the interview), although the difference between soup kitchen, emergency shelter, and transitional housing program use is not significant for currently homeless clients. Emergency and transitional shelters were each used by about a quarter of currently homeless clients (26 and 28 percent) but, by definition, were not used by formerly homeless clients and other service users. Other service users also report the most use of soup kitchens (19 percent).

Table 3.10
Use of Homeless Assistance Programs, By Homeless Status
  Currently Homeless Clients (N=2938) Formerly Homeless Clients (N=677) Other Service Users (N=518)
Clients Reporting Program Use In Week Before Interview
Emergency Shelter 28(%) 0(%) 0(%)
Transitional Housing 26 0 0
Sheltera 3 0 0
Permanent Housing 3 11 0
Shelter Vouchers 1 0 0
Soup Kitchen 31 35 19
Food Pantry 5 10 6
Mobile Food Program 5 6 8
Outreach 7 3 1
Drop-in Center 9 10 5
 
Clients Reporting Having Ever Used Program
Emergency Shelter 65 65 0
Transitional Housing 40 23 0
Permanent Housing 10 19 0
Shelter Vouchers 15 18 0
Soup Kitchen 62 74 32
Food Pantry 40 59 50
Mobile Food Program 21 18 17
Outreach 17 14 9
Drop-in Center 26 27 11
Source: Urban Institute analysis of weighted 1996 NSHAPC client data.
aThis included clients who did not report staying in an emergency shelter, transitional shelter, permanent housing, or voucher program over the last seven days but said that they recieved food over the last seven days in the shelter where they live.

Lifetime Service Use

The proportion of clients reporting having ever used various programs or services at some time in their lives is obviously much higher than usage in the week before being interviewed (table 3.10). Equal proportions (65 percent) of currently and formerly homeless clients have used an emergency shelter at some time in their lives. More formerly than currently homeless clients (19 versus 10 percent) have used permanent housing programs (this statistic probably owes a lot to the fact that using the program is part of what gets a person classified as formerly homeless), while the situation is reversed for transitional housing programs (40 versus 23 percent). The two groups report similar access to programs offering vouchers for emergency accommodation (15 and 18 percent).

Formerly compared with currently homeless clients are more likely to have used a soup kitchen in their lifetime (74 versus 62 percent). Formerly homeless clients are more likely than currently homeless clients to have used food pantries (59 versus 40 percent). Mobile food programs have served equal proportions (21 and 18 percent) of currently and formerly homeless clients. Similar proportions of currently and formerly homeless clients have used drop-in centers (26 and 27 percent) and outreach programs (17 and 14 percent). Other service users frequent food pantries (50 percent) and soup kitchens (32 percent), with lower percentages using mobile food programs (17 percent), drop-in centers (11 percent), and outreach programs (9 percent). Use of food programs of all varieties clearly reflects great need related to food among every subgroup of clients included in NSHAPC.


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Homelessness: Programs and the People They ServeDecember 1999