Homeless Assistance Programs ¹

• This study estimates that about 40,000 homeless assistance programs operate in the United States, offered at an estimated 21,000 service locations.

• Food pantries are the most numerous type of program, numbering about 9,000 programs. Emergency shelters are next with about 5,700 programs, followed closely by 4,400 transitional housing programs, 3,500 soup kitchens and other distributors of prepared meals, 3,300 outreach programs, and 3,100 voucher distribution programs.

• Food pantries expected to have over 1 million program contacts on an average day in February 1996, followed by about 522,000 program contacts expected at soup kitchens. Programs offering financial and/or housing assistance, outreach programs, and emergency shelters all expected to have between 240,000 and 253,000 contacts a day. Expected contacts at health programs were much lower. These estimates of program contacts are probably high for average daily service use, since February is a peak month for many homeless assistance services.

• Food programs are most likely to be large (37 percent expected more than 100 program contacts daily). Shelter and housing programs are most likely to be small (59 percent expected to serve 25 or fewer clients a day).

• The biggest programs, though few in number, account for very large proportions of program contacts on an average day. Among food programs, 11 percent report more than 300 program contacts daily, but they account for 55 percent of all contacts with food programs. The pattern is similar for shelter/housing programs. The 8 percent of shelter/housing programs reporting more than 100 program contacts daily provide 51 percent of all contacts in shelter/housing programs.

• Nonprofit agencies operate 85 percent of all homeless assistance programs. Government agencies operate only 14 percent.

• Among nonprofits, secular agencies operate 51 percent of homeless assistance programs and religious nonprofits operate 34 percent.

• Secular nonprofits operate more than half of the housing and other programs, religious nonprofits operate more than half of the food programs, and government operates more than half of the health programs.

• Food programs are the least dependent on government funding (more than half do not receive any), while health programs are the most dependent on government funding (more than half are funded completely by government). Shelter and housing programs vary more in their reliance on government for funds.

• Some programs have a special focus on one or more population groups. Victims of domestic violence and veterans are commonly named groups (18 and 14 percent, respectively). Clients who have alcohol, drug, or mental health problems, alone or in combination, are a special focus for 17 to 19 percent of programs, with health programs being particularly likely to name one of these groups.

• Central cities account for 49 percent of all homeless assistance programs, rural areas for the next largest share at 32 percent, and suburban areas for the fewest at 19 percent. Because central city programs serve more clients, however, a larger share of program contacts happen in central cities (57 percent) than in suburban and rural areas (20 and 23 percent of all program contacts, respectively), which do not differ from each other.

• Among the 76 primary sampling areas included in NSHAPC, the areas with the most population provide the most homeless assistance services, as expected. However, a different picture emerges when service levels are examined on a per capita basis as a rate per 10,000 population, and also in relation to need as a rate per 10,000 poor people. Using rates makes clear that many medium-sized and even smaller sampling areas actually offer more homeless assistance services in relation to their poor population than larger sampling areas.

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