City of Philadelphia

Office of Homeless Services

Snapshot

Executive Summary

The mission of the Office of Homeless Services (OHS) is to make homelessness rare, brief, and

non-recurring in Philadelphia. We fulfill this mission by providing the leadership, planning,

coordination, and mobilization of resources to an extensive system of homelessness prevention,

service Continuum of Care (CoC) is committed to Housing First, an approach that prioritizes

providing permanent housing to people experiencing homelessness, thus ending their

homelessness and serving as a platform from which they can pursue personal goals and improve

their quality of life. This approach is guided by the belief that people need a place to live in order

Housing is the foundation.

The work of OHS and the network of homeless services providers is guided by our strategic

plan, The Roadmap to Homes, (2018-2023). Our community works in five priorities areas to

make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring. One of these priorities is to Implement

and technical assistance to end-users to ensure that the data collected is comprehensive and

accurately reflects those served. It should be noted that this Data Snapshot follows and reflects

the requirements of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Among the foundational data that guides the system is the annual Point-in-Time Count (PIT). It

is a count of people experiencing homelessness, both sheltered and unsheltered on a single night

at the end of January. It is complemented by the Housing Inventory Count (HIC), an inventory of

programs within the homeless services Continuum of Care (CoC) that are dedicated to serving

people experiencing homelessness. It is held at the same time as the PIT count.

This year’s FY2022 Data Snapshot shows that:

• The CoC served 17,693 unique persons (13,478 households) in FY22. This number is similar

• Over eighty percent of people served were people of color. Ten percent of those served were

• Making homelessness brief: In FY22, participants spent on average eleven percent less time

• Make Homelessness Non-Recurring: Eighty-one percent of participants who exited to

focus on housing first. We have made progress toward making homelessness rare, brief, and non-

recurring. We have leveraged new resources to help families and individuals and proved to be

down.

today has an exciting new opportunity to create a Coordinated Community Plan to address

homelessness among Youth and Young Adults (YYA), and then fund priority programs.

The shortage of deeply affordable housing continues to be the main obstacle to getting people

housed and ensuring that they do not enter or return to homelessness. The lack of income,

Executive Summary .........................................................................................................................1

The 2022 Data Snapshot ............................................................................................................. 1

Total Served ................................................................................................................................ 2

Make Homelessness Rare, Brief, and Non-Recurring ................................................................ 2

Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 2

..................................................................................................................................................... 3

Making Homelessness Rare, Brief and Non-recurring ............................................................ 6

Additional Performance Measures ....................................................................................... 8

Housing Inventory Count .................................................................................................. 10

In FY22 the homeless service system along with the rest of the world began to recover from

OHS and PDPH continue to promote vaccinations to prevent the spread of COVID. Congregate

sites continue to use protective protocols like mask-wearing to reduce spread. Bed spacing has

been reduced and capacity in the system has been restored to pre-COVID levels. The COVID

related funding provided through the CARES Act is set to end by September 30, 2023 and has

been fully allocated.

The public can find additional information on OHS’s response and COVID-19 Guidance for

and COVID-19 Resource Digest for the Homeless Services Community.

older with an underlying health condition determined by the Center for Disease Control (CDC)

as creating high risk for COVID.

permanent housing

exited a project for a

permanent housing

destination did not

return to

a permanent

housing destination

did not return to

ES

TH

To track the community’s progress towards making homelessness non-recurring, OHS tracks the

number of persons who exited to a permanent housing destination and then re-entered a housing

assistance project. The goal of this measure is to see to what extent people exit the system and

not return, thereby reducing overall homelessness. Essentially, we ask, what percentage of

people exit the system and move to long-term housing destination after being homeless, then fall

rental or owned property by participant with or without subsidy, living with friends or family on

permanent basis, long-term housing for formally homeless persons, or move from one HOPWA

funded project to Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA).

of making homelessness brief, rare and non-recurring and align with the Roadmap to Homes

goals. For example, employment and income growth is closely related to a household’s ability to

towards making homelessness non-recurring. The chart below reviews the income reported

during a person’s exit compared to the income they reported during their enrollment.

Between FY21 and FY22, there was a two percent increase in the number of persons who left a

housing project with more income than when they arrived. However, between FY19 and FY22,

there was a one percent decline in people who left with employment income. Increase in the

overall income but not employment income could have been due to pandemic related

Philadelphia, the economic recovery has been slower than the rest of the country.

recovery is particularly pronounced among Black and Latinx workers – reflecting historical

It should be noted that collecting income information when participants leave programs is

therefore are not fully representative.

Several population subgroups are considered by HUD to be more vulnerable. This includes

persons who are chronically homeless, unaccompanied youth (18 to 24 years old), and veterans.

Of the subpopulations identified in the table below, persons who self-identified as experiencing a

severe mental illness and chronic substance abuse are the most represented. Both populations

saw an increase from the 2020 PIT count. During the 2020 count, forty percent of all adults

reported a mental illness, and in 2022 that percentage increased to forty-two percent. This is

twice the national average for housed persons. For substance use disorder, the percentage

increased from thirty-three percent in 2020 to thirty-six percent in 2022.

201 76 277 7.5%

fiscal year (July 1st through June 30th). The tables in this

reported once for each project type. In other words, this is not

an unduplicated count of people, but of people entering

projects. Projects that do not participate in HMIS or projects

violence (for reasons of confidentiality) are not represented in

the FY22 total number of persons served reflects pre-pandemic levels. As many of the pandemic

era supports (including rental assistance, eviction moratorium, COVID economic impact

payments, and Advanced Child Tax Credit) expired or are phased out, a greater number of

people experienced housing insecurity

The chart below summarizes number of unique persons served in each project type. The largest

Shelter compared to FY21.

T OTAL PERSONS SERVED BY PROJECT TYPE 2019 – 202 2

Identifying the type of households served in crisis housing can be challenging as family

structures change for various reasons, such as children becoming adults or individuals leaving a

household. The total households reported above are based on the most recent enrollment

reported. A total of 6,049 persons in a household with at least one adult and child were served in

Note: For the purposes of this report, Families are households with at least one Adult and one Child (less than 18 years old). In Adult Only

households, all members are over 18 years old, and Child Only households are those where all members are under 18 years of age.

For the past three decades, studies have shown that African Americans are overrepresented in the

U.S. homeless population.

Reviewing the cumulated results from last year’s PIT count shows

that nationally, four in ten people experiencing homelessness were African American, whereas in

the general population, African Americans represent one in ten.

housing destination. A review of exits by race shows that those who identify as Black or

African American and Multiple races had a higher exit rate to permanent housing, 25%

and 34% respectfully, than the overall system (23%). Other groups, such as those who

identified as White, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Asian, and American Indian or

Alaska Native had lower percent of exits to permanent destinations.

The Philadelphia CoC is committed to ensuring delivery of services to the most vulnerable

ethnicity to better understand service delivery to minority populations, in 2020, OHS conducted

a racial inequity analysis of the system in order to identify any disparities in the delivery of

services. As the result of the analysis, the Roadmap to Homes Board voted to establish a standing

homeless population,

representing twenty-three

percent of persons

experiencing homelessness.

In Philadelphia, fifteen percent

of the general population

but in the housing assistance

programs, this group

more likely to be in crowded, inadequate housing or “doubling up.”

xv

exclude them from accessing homeless assistance programs, which focus on serving persons who

are homeless according to the definition provided by HUD.

homelessness prevention services that do not require people to meet the definition of literally

homeless to get rental assistance; 2) providing more culturally competent Spanish language

services in community organizations that already serve the Hispanic/Latinx community; 3)

nesting the range of homeless assessment, referral and emergency housing services within

housing counseling agencies in the Hispanic/Latinx community; 4) expanding the network of

homeless services providers in the Hispanic/Latinx community to build capacity and increase

availability; 5) supporting innovative practices, programs and policies designed to meet the

unique needs of this population.

reach the refugee and immigrant community.

The average age of all persons served in projects in FY22 was thirty-five years old, which has

remained the same since FY20. In FY22, the percent of total number of children ages 0-17 was

one percent lower than in FY21. The percent of total youth ages18-24 remained the same at nine

The percent of adults aged 55 and older experiencing homelessness is projected to grow as the

Baby Boomer generation and Generation X age. Studies show that older individuals

experiencing homelessness age prematurely, with rates of cognitive decline and decreased

mobility equal to persons twenty years older.

individuals, the homeless assistance community should anticipate an increase in costs associated

with health care services when serving this population.

Individuals experiencing homelessness in congregate settings who are 65 or older, or who were

60+ with chronic health conditions were eligible for the COVID-19 Prevention Spaces.

Additional non congregate beds were added in small, community-based settings.

OHS established the “PEACE” program, Partners Establishing Accessible, Affordable Housing

Recovery and Isolation Site (CRIS), to cohort people experiencing homelessness who test

positive for COVID at intake or in shelter. Since February 2022, more than 175 participants were

they need to prevent or resolve their homelessness, no matter their age, ancestry, national origin,

sexual orientation, or source of income.

• Other Permanent Housing (OPH) – long-term housing that is included in the HIC count of

• Point-in-Time Count: Also known as the PIT, this is an annual count of all persons

• Project: Technical term used to describe a program. The term Project is often used

• Rapid Re-Housing: A project that provides rental assistance and supportive services on a

number of positive cases only reflects those that have been reported to OHS by the providers.

For citywide testing rates and results, please refer to

https://www.phila.gov/programs/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/testing/testing-

data/#explore-covid-19-datasets

and Financial Well-Being.

Food, Housing, and Employment Hardships. https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-

vi

Unsheltered PIT Count. https://files.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/Conducting-the-

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2014). Point-in-Time Count

Methodology Guide. 18.

American Journal of Public Health 111, no.8 (August 2021): pp. 1423-1427

x

Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress. 12.

xi

Survey 5-Year Estimates.