Homelessness in Pinellas County

Pinellas County has an existing array of services to assist our homeless neighbors to regain self-sufficiency, but it has proven over the years to not be sufficient to curtail this growing problem. The number of shelter beds and the amount of money spent on homelessness in Pinellas County has increased in the past five years; unfortunately, so has the number of individuals and families who become homeless. Hundreds of our homeless neighbors continue to sleep on the streets and in other places not meant for human habitation.

In addition to a growing homeless population, the face of homelessness has changed over the years. Because of many social factors, homelessness and chronic homelessness has increased and now includes more families with children, nontraditional family types and a greater number of working poor households.

Even though insufficient income is cited as the most common reason for homelessness, more than 33% of homeless adults work full or part-time, and about 23% receive disability, veteran or retirement benefits. Despite these sources of income, low wages or other personal or environmental barriers have led them to the streets or into emergency shelters.

The detailed information from our annual Point-In-Time homeless count and survey provides a snapshot of homelessness in Pinellas County.

• 5,195 homeless men, women, children were counted on January 29, 20007, a 10.5% increase over 2006
• Of those counted, 1,221 persons were unsheltered (sleeping on sidewalks, park benches, bus stops, doorways, in encampments, along railways and the Pinellas Trail, etc.) and 3,974 were sheltered (sleeping in emergency shelters)
• This equates to 20,764 incidents of homelessness in 2007
• 72% are male, 28% are female
• 7.7% (400 people) are over the age of 60
• Between 65-70% of the ‘street homeless’ have mental health and/or substance abuse problems
• 50% have lived in Pinellas County for 5 years or more; 75% for 1 year or more
• 24% are veterans
• Lack of affordable housing is a major unmet need for 80% and the major barrier for more than 55%
• 48.3% are chronically homeless
• 44.7% of homeless adults have a disabling condition
  • 34.4% = Mental health/emotional
  • 29.1% = Physical/medical
  • 27.5% = Alcohol/drugs
  • 14.7% = Both mental health & alcohol/drugs
  • 1.7% = HIV/AIDS