Statistics for Wake County – Raleigh (Meredith)

Homelessness
• 1,472 persons and families who are homeless on any given night in Raleigh. Raleigh City Government, 2003.
• 1,264 homeless persons with mental illness or severe drug and alcohol addiction. Raleigh City Government, 2003.
• 370 homeless children and youth on any given night in Raleigh. Raleigh City Government, 2003.
• 7,822 Wake County families are living in poverty and 6,412 of them had children, a 31% increase over a decade. Wake County Community Assessment, 2000.
• 75-80% of the homeless works in a part-time job at the lowest end of the wage scale. Wake County Community Assessment, 2000

Basic Needs & Poverty
• Family of 4 living in poverty has an annual income of $17, 652. Wake County Community Assessment, 2000.
• Even the 37% of Wake’s population wielding a $53,719 annual income faced difficulty in meeting basic needs. Wake County Community Assessment, 2000.
• Males represented 76% whereas females represented 24% of the adult, single homeless population in Wake County. Continuum of Care “Point in Time Count,” Wake County Community Assessment, 2000.
• Most homeless families (79%) are comprised of single parents with children and about the same percentage of these homeless families were headed by single-parent females. Continuum of Care “Point in Time Count,” Wake County Community Assessment, 2000.

Abuse
• Over 90% of Wake County homeless families are headed by a mother suffering from post-traumatic stress stemming from rape, domestic violence, and/or sexual or physical abuse of the mother in her childhood. These women have become socially isolated, since their abusers often are extended family members; moreover, 21% suffer from severe and persistent mental illness, 44% from chronic substance abuse, and another 15 % are dually diagnosed. Continuum of Care “Point in Time Count,” Wake County Community Assessment, 2000.
• The Child Protective Services Unit of Wake County Human Services has reported an 80% correlation between child abuse/neglect and substance abuse. Wake County Community Assessment, 2000.

When Ethnicity Matters Socio-Economically
• Ethnicity of the homeless was comprised of the following: African-Americans (79%); Caucasians (13%); Hispanics (6%); Native Americans (2%). Continuum of Care “Point in Time Count,” Wake County Community Assessment, 2000.
• African-American households, which are 20% of the general population in Wake County, make up 38% of families earning below 50% of AMI (Wake Consolidated Plan, 2000). However, 85% of homeless families in Wake County are African-American. Continuum of Care “Point in Time Count,” Wake County Community Assessment, 2000.
• Wake County ranks second nationally in the percentage of growth of Hispanic population – growing at a rate of 162% between 1990 – 1998. Wake County Community Assessment, 2000.

The State of North Carolina
Obtained from the Office of Economic Opportunity,
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
• 13 percent or 830,000 people in North Carolina live in poverty according to the 1990 census. A significant number of these people are employed but their wages are not enough to cover basic food, clothing and shelter needs.
• North Carolina ranks 42nd in the nation in total population without a high school diploma with 30 percent of the State’s residents being in that category.
• 70 percent of the low-income individuals and families in our state are experiencing housing problems. The major problem; they pay more than 30 percent of their total income for housing costs.
• The FY 1996 annual survey of the characteristics of the population to be served by Community Services Block Grant Program eligible entities indicated the following:

Source of income
o 9 percent of those served or 1,395 persons had no source of income.
o 22 percent listed employment as their primary source of income,
o 17 percent depended upon AFDC as their primary source of income,
o 34 percent identified Social Security or SSI as their primary source of income.

Household makeup
o 56 percent or 7,006 households were headed by a single female parent,
o 3 percent or 378 households by a single male parent,
o 22 percent or 2,658 households represented were single-parent households.
o 13 percent of the households were two-parent households,

Income level
o 70 percent of those served were families with incomes below $6,970,
o 23 percent of the remaining families had income below $11,890.

Age
o 74 percent of the participant head of households were 18 to 59 years old,
o 20 percent or 2,462 households had household heads of 60 years and above.

Race
o 60 percent of the families served were black,
o 36 percent were white.

Education
o 51 percent of household heads or 6,791 persons had not finished high school,
o 4 percent or 449 persons had completed college.

Miscellaneous characteristics
o 16 percent of the families served lived in public housing,
o 46 percent received food stamps,
o 36 percent received Medicaid services.

• From July 1, 1999 - June 30, 2000, 47,475 homeless people were served by the 134 facilities in 55 counties that received Emergency Shelter Grants (ESG) program funding. Approximately 3,400 homeless people were sheltered each day by these 134 facilities. Of the 47,475 people served during that period:
64 percent were single adult males and females,
23 percent were children between ages birth to seventeen years,
36 percent were members of families,
8 percent were veterans.

Over 5600 homeless families were served during the period. Of the 17,024 people in homeless families served, 97 percent were women and children. Of the 10,907 homeless children served 80 percent of the 10,907 homeless children served, 97 percent were women and children. 80 percent of the 10,907 homeless children served were between the ages of one and twelve.

• Leading causes of homelessness reported by homeless people or by the ESG grantees serving them from July 1, 1999 - June 30, 2000 included unemployment/underemployment, alcohol, substance abuse, mental illness, eviction, domestic violence/sexual assault, release from prison, child abuse and neglect, parental/child conflict, natural disaster and HIV/AIDS.

Excerpt from Wake's Ending Homelessness - The 10-Year Action Plan

Raleigh and the towns in Wake County are wonderful places to call home. We who live here take great pride in our capital city and smaller communities that are attractive, lively, and welcoming places to live. For most of us.

There is another side to our communities that most of us see only in passing. This is the shadowland of want, hunger and desperation. Far too many Raleigh and Wake County residents can’t afford even the lowest rents, and barely make it from one month to the next. For others, personal problems, such as poor health, mental illness, or substance abuse interfere with their ability to succeed on their own. Still others experience domestic violence, or can’t speak English, or age out of foster care, or are released from prison or jail with no job skills or support system.

Many individuals and families live in precarious circumstances. A portion of them lose their homes, most for days, others for much longer. They rely on emergency shelters and food programs, or makeshift camps in the woods. The most visible subsist on city streets, where they are a disturbing part of the urban landscape and a harsh reminder of our systems’ failings.

The people of Raleigh and Wake County are not short on compassion. Faith-based and other local groups provide meals, clothing, and temporary beds. Non-profit agencies offer services, support, and shelter for people who are homeless and at risk of becoming so. Municipal, state and federal agencies contribute significant dollars, staff, and expertise to these programs and initiatives. And yet, homelessness and the accompanying despair continue to grow.

It is high time we reverse this trend. Homelessness is a blight that harms all of us. Police, hospitals, and jails spend an inordinate amount of public resources on people for whom the main problem is lack of a home and stabilizing services. Businesses and community groups are continually frustrated in their efforts to “clean up” the streets, knowing full well that the holes in our social safety net mean that improvements are only temporary. School officials wring their hands over the numbers of students whose learning is hampered by being in constant crisis—living in unstable, unsafe, and unsettled circumstances, and changing schools many times a year.

The network of homeless shelters and services is a band-aid approach to a critical condition. We need solution-oriented strategies. Ensuring affordable housing, effective medical and behavioral health treatment, family supports, and opportunities for work and other meaningful activities is both more humane and more cost-effective than maintaining an ever-expanding “homeless service system.” We must attack the causes of homelessness, not just the results.

Please join us in ending homelessness in our community. Take part in The 10-Year Action Plan.