PRESS RELEASE: Douglas County Achieves Functional Zero for Veterans, Ensuring it is Rare and Brief

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 7, 2024 

Layla Elena Said, Communications Specialist
Metro Denver Homeless Initiative
layla.said@mdhi.org

Rebecca Mayer, Interim Executive Director
Metro Denver Homeless Initiative
rebecca.mayer@mdhi.org

Wendy Manitta Holmes, APR,
Director, Communication and Public Affairs, Douglas County Government
Mobile: 303.880.7785 | Email: wholmes@douglas.co.us

DOUGLAS COUNTY ACHIEVES FUNCTIONAL ZERO FOR VETERANS,
ENSURING HOMELESSNESS IS RARE AND BRIEF

Douglas County has proven that homelessness is solvable through quality data, coordinated outreach, and regional collaboration. Together, Douglas County and the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI) celebrate the County’s achievement of Functional Zero for Veteran homelessness, since joining the Built for Zero (BFZ) movement in April 2021.

“Our approach to homelessness is working in Douglas County,” said Commissioner Abe Laydon. “We appreciate all our municipal, nonprofit, and faith-based partners and Sheriff Darren Weekly for working with us to achieve this outcome for our community’s heroes. Now, we have a pilot for using the Built for Zero framework across all populations.”

Functional Zero for Veterans represents a critical milestone, requiring sustained systems to prevent homelessness and address it promptly. This achievement does not imply that no one experiences homelessness; rather, it means that the number of Veterans experiencing homelessness is maintained within the community’s capacity to provide housing.

“Functional Zero isn’t about achieving a ‘finish line’ but about maintaining ongoing efforts to serve Veterans with dignity and timeliness,” said Sofia Vigil, Regional Coordination Manager with MDHI. “Douglas County has shown us that Veteran homelessness can be made rare and brief.”  

The cornerstone of this success was reaching the Quality By-Name Data standard in October 2023. By building and maintaining a comprehensive, monthly-updated list of every homeless Veteran in the community, Douglas County gained a powerful tool for tracking Veterans entering and exiting homelessness. This systematic approach ensures that everyone is included in the data.   

"This incredible accomplishment by Douglas County is the result of their active engagement and prioritization of this work for over two years," said Missy Mish, Homeless Section Chief for VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System. "Douglas County used grant funding to build a robust outreach team to identify and track Veterans through community-wide efforts. The VA is grateful for their collaboration and partnership in this life-saving work."  

Meanwhile, Douglas County’s HEART (Homeless Engagement Assistance and Resource Team) program brought personalized, street-level support. HEART navigators, paired with law enforcement, conducted regular outreach, building trust and guiding Veterans toward available resources.

“Today, we celebrate the success of our veterans. In the summer of 2023, a veteran was identified through a referral that HEART received. After a few short months of gathering documentation and meeting with the VA, he was approved for a housing voucher that paired rental assistance with ongoing case management and supportive services,” said Tiffany Marsitto, HEART supervisor. “It’s an honor and privilege to serve those who have served our country.” 

“Our HEART team is dedicated to compassionate policing, especially when it comes to supporting our homeless Veterans,” said Sheriff Darren Weekly. “These men and women served our country with honor, and now it’s our turn to serve them with respect and care. By addressing their unique needs, we’re making a real impact, offering them a path to stability and dignity.”

From January 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024, 64% of Veterans experiencing homelessness were housed within 98 days of being identified. MDHI and Douglas County attribute this success to a system-wide commitment to continual improvement. Data review and coordinated service practices have reduced inflow, sped up housing placements, and created a sustainable model for other communities to follow.

“Douglas County’s achievement offers a powerful message to communities everywhere: homelessness is solvable,” said Sofia Vigil. “With aligned resources, committed partners, and a data-driven approach, other communities can follow this path.”

Built for Zero – and the framework to measure progress toward Functional Zero – is an initiative of nonprofit Community Solutions. Community Solutions, an independent, national organization, conducted a comprehensive review of policies and data spanning the past 1.5 years to verify that every Veteran experiencing homelessness in Douglas County has been accounted for and directed toward housing solutions. Douglas County is one of more than 100 communities nationwide committed to ending homelessness by working with Community Solutions Group on Built for Zero. 

Douglas County’s progress highlights MDHI’s vision to address homelessness throughout Metro Denver, proving that lasting change is possible with shared effort and clear goals. Douglas County is one of nine subregions working with MDHI to solve Veteran and eventually all homelessness. For more information, please visit mdhi.org.  

HEART is a partnership among the County, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and local law enforcement and community partners to connect those experiencing homelessness with resources. HEART is a program of the Douglas County Homeless Initiative.

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MDHI is the Metro Denver Continuum of Care, the regional system that coordinates services and housing for people experiencing homelessness. This includes prevention/diversion, street outreach, emergency shelter, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, and permanent supportive housing. MDHI works closely with each county in its continuum (Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson) to build a homeless crisis response system that gets people back into housing as quickly as possible. Learn more at mdhi.org.

PRESS RELEASE: Metro Denver Homeless Initiative Announces New Executive Director

Jason Johnson to Serve as Next Executive Director

DENVER, COLORADO – October 21, 2024 – The board of directors of the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI) announced today that Jason Johnson has been selected to serve as the organization’s next Executive Director. Jason currently serves as the Executive Director of Vashon Household in King County, Washington.

The interview and selection process spanned several months and included input from community stakeholders, partners, and MDHI staff. “We are extremely grateful for the collaboration, support, and patience from our community partners and the MDHI team as we worked through this important process,” said Brendan Clark, board president. “Jason embodies the values, experience and passion that we were searching for in the next leader of MDHI, and we are so thrilled to welcome him back to Colorado to lead and advance the amazing work being done at MDHI and across the region to end homelessness.” 

Jason has served as the Executive Director of Vashon Household since May 2022. Previously, Jason spent a decade in the nonprofit sector managing regional housing programs for seniors, families and people living with terminal illness or permanent disabilities. Jason also brings 16+ years of leadership in the public sector as the former Director of the City of Seattle’s Human Services Department and a Planner with the City of Kent Housing and Human Services Division. Jason is a licensed social worker originally from Boulder, Colorado where he grew up in publicly funded affordable housing and whose family relied on many of the social safety net services he has spent his career advancing. Jason has lived in Seattle since 1997 and aside from his work, Jason enjoys travel, live music, recreational sports, and time outdoors with his dog Disco and husband Rob.

“We are incredibly excited for Jason to lead MDHI as we embark upon this next chapter for the organization. His experience leading in both the nonprofit and public sectors, history of fostering collaboration, commitment to equity, and lifelong dedication to serving our unhoused neighbors are just some of the many reasons we believe Jason is the right choice to lead MDHI.” Jason will begin this new position on December 16, 2024.

“On behalf of the board of MDHI, I would also like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Rebecca Mayer for serving as Interim Executive Director over this past year,” added Brendan. “Rebecca provided stability and leadership during a time of transition and ensured that MDHI continued to advance its mission as we searched for a new Executive Director. She went above and beyond what the board asked of her and will always be a valued member of the MDHI family. We wish her the best in her future endeavors and thank her for continuing her commitment to ending homelessness in our region.”

PRESS RELEASE: Annual Point-in-Time Count Shows An Increase of People Experiencing Homelessness in Denver Metro Area

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 14, 2024

Layla Elena Said
Communications Specialist
Metro Denver Homeless Initiative
layla.said@mdhi.org | 484-772-0559

Rebecca Mayer
Interim Executive Director
Metro Denver Homeless Initiative
rebecca.mayer@mdhi.org

DENVER, COLORADO – AUGUST 14, 2024 – The Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI) released its data for the annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count today. The count, conducted in January each year, is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to capture the number of unduplicated individuals experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness on a single night. This year’s PIT count took place across Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson Counties from sundown January 22, 2024, to sundown January 23, 2024.

The PIT is an annual snapshot of homelessness on a single night with numerous variables such as weather, count participation, volunteer engagement, and other factors which may impact the count from year to year. While this count can help us understand homelessness on a single night, MDHI and our partners are actively working on comprehensive, real-time data. The region was able to identify 9,977 individuals in the 2024 count, while the Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS) used by over 100 nonprofit and government agencies allows us to see that this number is closer to 30,000 throughout the year. A more comprehensive look at homelessness can be found in MDHI’s State of Homelessness 2023 Report.

Homelessness increased by 10% this year, driven primarily by a 12% rise in shelter usage. While fewer people are experiencing homelessness for the first time, the number of chronically homeless individuals rose by 16%. The number of homeless families has also grown significantly, from 2,101 to 3,136. While Point in Time data can fluctuate year to year due to methodological changes and varying conditions, it remains a valuable tool when considered alongside other data sources. Rebecca Mayer, Interim Executive Director at MDHI, noted, “Behind every data point lies the reality of individuals and families facing the hardship of homelessness. It's crucial to remember that our unhoused neighbors deserve the stability and security of a safe place to call home.”

The City of Denver stood up temporary shelters for newcomers beginning in December 2022. “Newcomers” refer to migrants using more inclusive language. On the day of the count, more than 4,300 newcomers were staying in the City of Denver shelters. Nearly 43,000 newcomers have been supported by Denver since 2022, with more than 12,000 people arriving in just the three months leading up to the 2024 PIT Count. To ensure access to the most accurate information of those experiencing homelessness on a single night, the newcomer population that stayed at the temporary migrant-only shelters are not included in the Metro Denver PIT report. 

The Point in Time would not be possible without our many partners and volunteers across the region who support this annual count and survey. Heidi M Grove, MA, serves as the Division Director of the Boulder County Department of Housing and leads their Point in Time efforts. She shared, “Point in Time is a snapshot into homelessness across the country. We are so grateful for the hard work that all our partners, providers, and volunteers put in to ensure we have the most accurate count possible as we know funding relies on these numbers.” Kate Skarbek, Senior Management Analyst with the City of Westminster, added, “We really appreciate the time and effort volunteers put into the Point in Time Count. The PIT helps us understand what it’s like to experience homelessness and how close it is to all of us.” 

For more information on the PIT count, 2024 data, and county-by-county breakdowns, please visit mdhi.org/pit. 

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MDHI is the Metro Denver Continuum of Care, the regional system that coordinates services and housing for people experiencing homelessness. This includes prevention/diversion, street outreach, emergency shelter, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, and permanent supportive housing. MDHI works closely with each county in its continuum (Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson) to build a homeless crisis response system that gets people back into housing as quickly as possible. Learn more at mdhi.org.

PRESS RELEASE: Peer Advisors Guide Region’s Annual Point in Time Count of People Experiencing Homelessness

DENVER, COLORADO – January 22, 2024 – The Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI) is coordinating its seven-county annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count today. The count, conducted in January each year, is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to capture the number of unduplicated individuals experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness on a single night. This year’s Point in Time count takes place across Adams Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson Counties from sundown January 22, 2024, to sundown January 23, 2024.

The PIT is an annual snapshot of homelessness on a single night with numerous variables such as weather, count participation, volunteer engagement, and various other factors. While the region continues to improve our count and was able to locate 9,065 individuals in 2023, the Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS) used by over 100 participating agencies allows us to see that this number is closer to 30,000 throughout the year.

The Peer Advisor initiative began as a pilot in 2022-2023, bringing in people with lived experience of homelessness to consult within their city and county on the Point in Time Count. Peer Advisors participate in the PIT count's administration, consultation, planning, and implementation. Peer Advisors are paid a stipend for their time and are required to complete an orientation to participate. Sierra Trujillo, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at MDHI, spoke to the importance of this initiative. “With the introduction of the Peer Advisor initiative, our vision aimed at a transformative shift in the PIT, integrating the wisdom and resilience of individuals who have experienced homelessness. This initiative creates a distinctive opportunity for collaboration with service providers, placing the peer advisors at the forefront in the planning and implementation of the PIT.”

Courtney Fischer with Volunteers of America Colorado is the Point in Time Lead for the City and County of Denver. “The Peer Advisor program has allowed for a greater collaboration with the individuals who are most impacted by the Point in Time count. Their insight is key to getting a more accurate count,” said Fischer. She added, “I have seen the role give greater confidence to the Peer Advisors as they interact with the service providers as their peers, too. I think the program, while still small, has the potential to grow into something much larger within Colorado.”

Mandy Walke with the City and County of Broomfield echoed this sentiment. “The advisors have impacted Broomfield County’s 2024 PIT count planning by providing their perspective, obtained through lived experience, on the best ways to engage those experiencing homelessness during the PIT count. Their role is a win-win: they’ve reported how mutually beneficial this has been for them to be able to give back and use their life experiences to help others.”

One Broomfield Peer Advisor agreed. They shared, “At one point in time in your life you will pause and ask yourself, is this what I wanted? Where there is no struggle there is no strength. That's where I found myself needing change. To help pass this message to others is all I could ever dream for.”

For more information on the PIT count, 2023 data, and county-by-county breakdowns, please visit mdhi.org/pit. A more comprehensive look at homelessness can be found in MDHI’s State of Homelessness 2023 Report.

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MDHI is the Metro Denver Continuum of Care, the regional system that coordinates services and housing for people experiencing homelessness. This includes prevention/diversion, street outreach, emergency shelter, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, and permanent supportive housing. MDHI works closely with each county in its continuum (Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson) to build a homeless crisis response system that gets people back into housing as quickly as possible. Learn more at mdhi.org.

PRESS RELEASE: New Report Shows Over 30,000 People Accessing Homelessness Services in Denver Region

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 18, 2014

Layla Elena Said
Communications Specialist
Metro Denver Homeless Initiative
layla.said@mdhi.org | 484-772-0559

Rebecca Mayer
Interim Executive Director
Metro Denver Homeless Initiative
rebecca.mayer@mdhi.org

NEW REPORT SHOWS OVER 30,000 PEOPLE ACCESSING HOMELESSNESS SERVICES IN DENVER REGION

DENVER, COLORADO – January 18, 2024 – The Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI) released its 2023 State of Homelessness report today, highlighting new data related to homelessness in the region. The report demonstrates the overall issue of homelessness across multiple sources including the region’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), the 2023 Point in Time (PIT) count, and the Colorado Department of Education’s McKinney Vento Act.

The HMIS showed 30,409 unique individuals accessed services related to homelessness between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023. This data, entered by about 100 partner agencies across the region, shows an annual account of homelessness as compared to the region’s one-night PIT count, which counted 9,065 individuals on January 30, 2023. Additionally, the report shared that 7,217 people stayed outdoors at some point during the year, compared to 2,763 on the night of the 2023 PIT.

“The Homeless Management Information System is our state’s most comprehensive database on homelessness and housing instability,” said Rebecca Mayer, Interim Executive Director of MDHI. “When we use data collected throughout the year to measure the scope of this crisis, we can more effectively plan an equitable system response that is geared toward ending homelessness,” she added.

One significant disparity that has remained consistent across data sources over time is the overrepresentation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color experiencing homelessness. While Black or African people represent only 6% of the general population, they make up over 22% of the homeless population. This overrepresentation persists for American Indian/Alaska Native (3.6X), multiracial (1.6X), and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (5.0X) people experiencing homelessness.

HMIS data also show that the overwhelming majority of people (94%) are not choosing to experience homelessness, nor are they moving to Colorado and becoming homeless (88%). The top factors contributing to homelessness continue to be relationship and family breakups, as well as economic instability due to rising rents, inflation, and low wages. One member of our Young Adult Leadership Committee added, “I hope others read these stories and see that being homeless doesn't make you less of a person. It's a tough reality, but we're stronger for having lived through it.”

Highlighted in this report is the progress our region has made to know every veteran experiencing homelessness by name, month over month. In 2023, our region’s coordinated efforts in partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Community Solutions, the Department of Local Affairs, and community partners across the region led to a 16% reduction in veteran homelessness. Our goal is to reach functional zero - a measurable state where homelessness is rare, brief, and nonrecurring.

Sofia Vigil, Regional Coordination Lead, added, "The remarkable reduction in the number of Veterans actively experiencing homelessness across the region stands as a testament to the transformative power of collaboration and coordination. Recognizing that approximately 50% of Veterans currently on the By-Name-List are over the age of 55, it is fundamental to acknowledge and address age-related factors in homelessness as we strive towards achieving and sustaining functional zero."

To access a full copy of the report, please visit mdhi.org/soh-2023.

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MDHI is the Metro Denver Continuum of Care, the regional system that coordinates services and housing for people experiencing homelessness. This includes prevention/diversion, street outreach, emergency shelter, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, and permanent supportive housing. MDHI works closely with each county in its continuum (Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson) to build a homeless crisis response system that gets people back into housing as quickly as possible. Learn more at mdhi.org.

Joint Statement on Common Sense Institute’s Flawed Annual Assessment of the Homelessness System in Denver

For the third year in a row, the “Common Sense” Institute has released a “Snapshot of Denver’s Homeless Ecosystem” outlining their flawed interpretation of Denver’s homelessness response system and City budget as well as a continued failure to account for the complexities of homelessness for those forced to experience it.  In 2022, the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, Metro Denver Homeless Initiative, and Denver Department of Housing Stability (HOST) all discredited the 2022 report and offered constructive feedback to CSI for how it more accurately report out on the realities of the system and numbers available, but CSI ignored those calls for accuracy. 

We won’t repeat at length our former criticisms of the report’s flaws – all of which are present in the 2023 assessment – but will highlight a few of the additional errors that misinform the public on the data around homelessness in Denver including:

First, the snapshot continues to interweave Denver-specific data with the homeless data for the entire region or the entire state. In some instances, the document utilizes only data from Denver, while in other places it uses data from the seven-county Metro-Denver region. Once again, CSI’s calculations for the expenditures double and triple counts funding, include statewide funding, and has several other limitations. This leads to inflating the amount spent on homelessness in Denver or the Denver Metro Region.  In several instances in the assessment, CSI cites its own flawed data as the source of spending analyses – analyses that have been refuted by service providers and experts more than once.  They also claim that they provided service providers the opportunity to review the data but no one in the service provider community recalls any outreach to their agencies by CSI staff.

Secondly, on Page 7, CSI claims that “one in every 21 of Denver’s unhoused persons died in 2022.”  This is a gross oversimplification that relies in part on a count of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January, the Point in Time (PIT), and the limited death data reported out by Denver’s Office of Medical Examiner (OME).  As we have pointed out repeatedly to CSI, PIT data does not represent the full population of people experiencing homelessness and the number is in fact much larger than the PIT reports.  For more accurate numbers, CSI could look at MDHI’s report on the State of Homelessness.  The OME data is also very limiting and more accurate numbers, though still not complete, could be found in CCH’s Annual Death Review.  While every death of an unhoused individual is a tragedy, misrepresenting that number for shock value alone does nothing to address the systemic and dangerous issues that lead to homelessness and death.  If fact, looking at more accurate numbers would suggest that while people are experiencing homelessness have shorter life spans than their housed counterparts, less than 1% of the population of unhoused individuals in Denver passed away in 2022.  (MDHI reports over 28,000 people experiencing homelessness in the course of a year and CCH reports 263 deaths which is just .009% of population)

Thirdly, on page 13, the report references “participation rates” of housing. Here again, CSI misunderstands this data and part of the system. Participation rate data is required to be reported to HUD each year and is the percent of projects that actually enter data into the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). In other words, it reflects what percent of our providers are putting data in a database, not the utilization rates by people experiencing homelessness.  Here are the correct utilization rates, or how many beds were actually full in that resource type, which was the intent of CSI sharing this data. This data is also only a snapshot on a single night in January within the Denver Metro area and is not longitudinal. Here are the rates at which these interventions were occupied on the night of the 2022 Point in Time:, as well as for 2023. It is also to be noted that this data chart still cannot capture the nuance of complex systems. For instance, for the line on Permanent Supportive Housing, some of those are vouchers, so the total is likely misleadingly low due to the fact that many unhoused neighbors are in currently searching for housing that will accept the vouchers which are difficult to find in the incredibly tight housing market in the Denver Metro Area.

MDHI was unable to replicate many of the percentages claimed by CSI based on the official data set submitted to HUD for the 2022 Point in Time via the Housing Inventory Count (HIC).

The danger in misrepresenting “participation rates” in the way that CSI is done undermines and discredits the interventions and housing solutions that in fact, are highly successful in resolving homelessness.  The data is clear, housing is the solution to homelessness and a research entity with any real interest in evidence-based solutions would have no difficulty finding the real data that makes this case.  In fact, the most recent data was collected from the highly successful Denver Social Impact Bond Program right in CSI’s backyard.

Denver SIB supportive housing participants spent significantly more time in housing (560 days), compared with those who received services as usual. After accessing supportive housing, most participants stayed housed over the long term, with 86% of participants remaining in stable housing one year after entering housing, 81% after two years, and 77% after three years.  Other studies have shown similar results:

• One study published in 2020 found that 86% of participants with long histories of frequent emergency room visits and arrests who have diagnoses of substance use and severe mental illness entered and remained in permanent supportive housing. By providing housing with voluntary services, the vast majority of high-risk individuals were housed successfully. The study analyzed service use from Santa Clara County, CA between 2015 and 2019.

• Another study from a 2017 24-month randomized control trial demonstrated that Housing First programs significantly improved the percentage of days stably housed among older homeless adults (50+) by 44% and younger homeless adults (18-49) by 40% compared with usual care.

• A 2020 meta-analysis of permanent supportive housing (PSH) programs found that PSH interventions increased long-term (6 year) housing stability for participants with moderate and high support needs when compared with usual care.

• A 2020 analysis of 26 studies from the US and Canada demonstrated that, compared with Treatment First, Housing First programs decreased homelessness by 88% and improved housing stability by 41%.

• A 2020 study out of North Carolina found that housing retention was highest among housing first PSH participants at 80% (retention after 12 months plus positive exits).

Finally, CSI makes several unfounded and misunderstood claims about the system and impacts of homelessness that seem off-handed, ill-informed, and intentionally accusatory towards people experiencing homelessness.  The failure of CSI to evaluate or even discuss proven solutions to these issues further demonstrates the lack of seriousness of their report.

• On Page 8, CSI states that there are “hundreds of unsheltered youths” but provides no context, no real impact analysis, and no discussion of effective interventions or solutions despite all of that information being available.

• On Page 13, CSI claims there is sufficient shelter capacity in Denver but all information available demonstrates that many shelters are at capacity requiring the opening of new shelter facilities both in response to homelessness and to the influx of migrants into the City of Denver.

• On Page 14, CSI states without explanation that costs per homelessness person at Denver Health is higher and includes longer lengths of stay without explaining the complex and complicated healthcare conditions that people experiencing homelessness endure, the failure of the system to provide adequate non-emergency places for recovery from healthcare issues, and the innovative and proven solutions being implemented to address these concerns.

For the third time in as many years, the “Common Sense” Institute has demonstrated that when it comes to accurately reporting out on homelessness and system in place to address it in Denver, it is not “common sense” that is driving the report. CSI continues to paint an inaccurate, mis-informed, and misleading picture of homelessness in the region. CCH and MDHI are proud of the work that is being done in Denver to resolve homelessness and if these proven interventions could be brought to the scale necessary to address the crisis at hand, we would see significant impact for our communities and for those that are forced to remain unhoused in Denver.  Detractors like CSI serve no legitimate role in a meaningful and solutions-driven dialogue around homelessness and anyone who relies on their “findings” should take caution and ask themselves why CSI continues to push a false narrative, use misleading data, and make unverifiable claims.

Annual 2023 Homeless Count Released

Data for the annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count shows increases in homelessness, specifically those experiencing homelessness for the first time. 

[Denver, CO – July 24, 2023]: The Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI) released the 2023 annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count data today. The count, conducted in January each year, is required by HUD to capture the number of unduplicated individuals experiencing homelessness on a single night.  

“We are still awaiting HUD’s verification of the region’s data, but for planning purposes, it is important to share this data,” said Dr. Jamie Rife, MDHI’s Executive Director.  

The count occurred on Monday, January 30, 2023, and included both those staying in shelter and outdoors. This year, 9,065 people were counted, or a 31.7% increase from 2022. The numbers of families experiencing homelessness showed a significant rise across the region, from 1,277 last year to 2,101 this year. Additionally, those who are new to homelessness rose sharply, from 2,634 to 3,996. Families experiencing homelessness for the first time were 597 in 2022 and 1,316 in 2023. 

“While the world is no longer in a pandemic, we are beginning to feel the full economic fallout of the COVID-19 era,” shared Rife. “With COVID-19 relief funds for the prevention of homelessness coming to an end, as well as many other COVID-era protections, we’ve seen a sharp increase in the number of eviction filings as more households struggle to pay rent. This, paired with inflation and the increased cost of housing, is resulting in many people falling into homelessness and many being unable to obtain housing.”  

The PIT is an annual snapshot of homelessness on a single night with numerous variables such as weather, count participation, volunteer engagement, and a variety of other factors. “While the region continues to improve our count and was able to locate 9,065 individuals on a single night experiencing homelessness, the Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS) used by our providers allows us to see this number is closer 28,000 throughout the course of the year,” stressed Rife. “We need to keep moving towards understanding who is experiencing homelessness in real-time and by name, so our response is as effective as possible”, she added.  

The Metro Denver Homeless Initiative is the Lead Agency for the region’s Continuum of Care. The organization coordinates the annual count at the regional level with local teams across the seven-county Denver region conducting counts locally. Per HUD requirements, the PIT must be conducted during the last ten days of January. For more information on the PIT count, 2023 data and county-by-county breakdowns, please visit MDHI’s website. A more comprehensive look at homelessness can be found in MDHI’s State of Homelessness Report.  

MDHI Response to Common Sense Institute Newest Report

FOR RELEASE ON: October 21, 2022  

CSI REPORT ON HOMELESSNESS INACCURATE AND PURPOSEFULLY MISLEADING 

Report Overestimates Per Person Costs and Continues Misrepresentation on Spending in Region, Purposefully Misleading the Public 

[Denver, CO – October 21, 2022]: The report issued by the Common Sense Institute (CSI) is an inaccurate and misleading look at the region’s spending on homelessness.  

The report issued today by the Common Sense Institute once again misrepresents spending on homelessness. “MDHI identified several key inaccuracies to CSI during the creation of this report,” said Dr. Jamie Rife, Executive Director of the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI). “However, the researchers chose to release the report and include these inaccuracies, knowing they would lead to inflated per person spending and misinformation in the public,” added Rife.  

The following are some of the most glaring inaccuracies contained within the report:  

• The report, by the authors’ own admission, includes spending and costs related to people in housing and other programs unrelated to homelessness. This leads to the report not being about homelessness, but rather the cost of poverty, housing instability, food insecurity, healthcare costs, and homelessness in the region. Naming the report “Homelessness in Metro Denver” is purposefully misleading and inaccurate.  

• To obtain the cost per person, the authors added the costs of permanent housing, homelessness services, healthcare, and programs related to housing and food insecurity over several different years, added them up and divided by the number of people experiencing homelessness and those housed in permanent housing on a single night. Again, this is misleading. The report, once again, fails to define an actual population for the calculations.

• Spending is still counted twice or three times as in past reports, leading to inflated costs. The authors failed to account for how funds flow between the federal, state, local governments, and nonprofits. MDHI’s own budget, included in the report, is evidence of this as our organization serves as a pass through for funding. The revenue and expenditures are included in our 990s as well as the organizations we fund.  

• The report also overestimates the number of employees and volunteers operating in the homelessness system. This is harmful to the providers and organizations that work diligently each day, in the face of incredible challenges, to serve those experiencing homelessness.  

“It is incredibly disappointing that even after several conversations with CSI to attempt to strengthen the methodology in this report, they chose to continue to mislead the public with false information,” said Rife. “Homelessness is complex with individuals having a variety of needs at varying costs. For example, our data show that in the third quarter of this year, the average assistance via our Housing Stability Flexible Fund was a mere $975 to either prevent homelessness or rehouse a household in our region. This is a sharp contrast to the numbers included in this report and demonstrates the wide range of costs, depending on the need of the inviduals and families.”  

The public deserves information that is accurate. MDHI suggests the following resources to gain an accurate picture of homelessness in our region as well as solutions that work: 

MDHI’s State of Homelessness Report 

Denver’s SIB Projects 

DOLA’s Making Homelessness History Playbook 

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About The Organization  

MDHI is the Metro Denver Continuum of Care, the regional system that coordinates services and housing for people experiencing homelessness. This includes prevention/diversion, street outreach, emergency shelter, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, and permanent supportive housing. MDHI works closely with each county in its continuum (Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson) to build a homeless crisis response system that gets people back into housing as quickly as possible.  

Full Annual Homelessness Count Released

2022 Data Show Increase in Overall Homelessness; Significant Decrease in Veteran Homelessness

DENVER, COLORADO – October 3, 2022 – The Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI) released the full data for the 2022 annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count data. The count captures homelessness nationally on a single night in January and showed an overall increase of 784 individuals regionally from pre-pandemic levels in 2020, the last time the region completed a comprehensive count. 

The Point-in-Time, commonly referred to as the PIT, is an annual count on one night in January of those experiencing homelessness. The PIT is held across the United States during the last week in January and aims to capture both the overall size and demographics of the homeless population. “While we did see overall increases in homelessness, the region’s emphasis on reducing Veteran homelessness is yielding results,” said Dr. Jamie Rife, MDHI’s Executive Director. "The number of Veterans experiencing homelessness decreased by 31% from 2020 to 2022,” she explained.

Included in PIT is a breakdown by race. “The overrepresentation of people of color, specifically black and Native Americans, among those experiencing homelessness is critical to the response,” stated Rife. “Homelessness is an issue of race and must be approached through this lens,” she added.

The count occurred on Monday, January 24, 2022, and included both those staying in shelters and outdoors. Due to COVID-19 safety concerns, the region did not conduct a count of individuals staying outdoors in 2021. In January 2020, approximately six weeks before the beginning of the pandemic and the last time a comprehensive PIT was conducted, there were 6,104 people counted experiencing homelessness. This year, 6,884 people were counted, or a 12.8% increase. For those staying in shelters, the number remained fairly consistent between 2020 and 2022 with 4,534 and 4,806 respectively. Unsheltered homelessness increased regionally, with pre-pandemic levels in 2020 at 1,561 and this year’s count locating 2,078 individuals staying outdoors.

“The Point-in-Time is a snapshot of homelessness on a single night with numerous variables such as weather, count participation, volunteer engagement, and a variety of other factors,” shared Rife. “While this count can help us understand homelessness on a single night, getting to a place where we have comprehensive, real-time data regionally is the ultimate goal,” she added. 

The region has made significant strides in decreasing its reliance on the one-night count. Instead, providers, municipalities, and others are working together to improve participation with the region’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to make data accessible each day on those experiencing homelessness. Boulder recently became the first community in the region to reach Quality Data for all singles, joining a select number of communities across the country to reach this milestone.  

“While the region was able to locate and count 6,884 individuals on a single night experiencing homelessness, the HMIS allows us to see this number is closer to 31,000 throughout the course of the year,” said Rife. “This data highlights the dynamic nature of homelessness and the importance of real-time data to allow the region to coordinate effectively and allocate resources efficiently.” MDHI releases annually the State of Homelessness report with these numbers. 

Infographic reports by county and an interactive dashboard are located on the MDHI website.

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MDHI is the Metro Denver Continuum of Care, the regional system that coordinates services and housing for people experiencing homelessness. This includes prevention/diversion, street outreach, emergency shelter, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, and permanent supportive housing. MDHI works closely with each county in its continuum (Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson) to build a homeless crisis response system that gets people back into housing as quickly as possible. 

If you would like more information on this topic, please email jamie.rife@mdhi.org.

First Phase of Annual Homelessness Count Released

The preliminary first phase of data for the annual Point-in-Time count shows increase in overall homelessness on a single night from pre-pandemic levels.  

[Denver, CO – July 20, 2022]: The Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI) released the preliminary first phase of the 2022 annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count data. The count captures homelessness nationally on a single night in January and showed an overall increase of 784 individuals regionally from pre-pandemic levels.  

“We are awaiting HUD’s verification of the region’s demographic data before releasing further information, but for planning purposes, it is important to share the overall sheltered and unsheltered count for the region,” said Dr. Jamie Rife, MDHI’s Executive Director. MDHI will release a second phase of data once HUD’s verification process is completed later this summer. 

The count occurred on Monday, January 24, 2022, and included both those staying in shelter and outdoors. Due to COVID-19 safety concerns, the region did not conduct a count of individuals staying outdoors in 2021. In January 2020, approximately six weeks before the beginning of the pandemic and the last time a comprehensive PIT was conducted, there were 6,104 people counted experiencing homelessness. This year, 6,888 people were counted, or a 12.8% increase. For those staying in shelter, the number remained fairly consistent between 2020 and 2022 with 4,534 and 4,815 respectively. Unsheltered homelessness increased regionally, with pre-pandemic levels in 2020 at 1,561 and this year’s count locating 2,073 individuals staying outdoors. 

“The Point-in-Time is a snapshot of homelessness on a single night with numerous variables such as weather, count participation, volunteer engagement, and a variety of other factors,” shared Rife. “While this count can help us understand homelessness on a single night, getting to a place where we have comprehensive, real-time data regionally is the ultimate goal,” she added.  

The region has made significant strides in decreasing its reliance on the one-night count. Instead, providers, municipalities, and others are working together to improve participation with the region’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to make data accessible each day on those experiencing homelessness. Outreach teams across the seven-county metro-Denver region increased HMIS usage in 2022 to help create a more real-time understanding on those staying outdoors as well as assist in connecting clients to services and housing.  

“While the region was able to locate and count 6,888 individuals on a single night experiencing homelessness, the HMIS allows us to see this number is closer 31,000 throughout the course of the year,” said Rife. “This data highlights the dynamic nature of homelessness and the importance of real-time data to allow the region to coordinate effectively and allocate resources efficiently.” MDHI releases annually the State of Homelessness report with these numbers.  

Annual ‘State of Homelessness’ Report Released

MDHI Releases Second State of Homelessness Report

DENVER, COLORADO – January 20, 2022 – The Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI) released its second annual State of Homelessness report today, highlighting new data in the region related to homelessness.  

The report, for the second year in a row, demonstrates the overall issue of homelessness across multiple sources including the region’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), the 2021 Point in Time (PIT) count for those staying in shelter, as well as school district data on students experiencing homelessness.  

The HMIS showed 32,233 individuals accessed services related to homelessness between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021. Additionally, there is data from the HMIS on those staying outdoors or other places not meant for human habitation, commonly referred to as unsheltered.  

Consistent in this year’s report as compared to last year is the overrepresentation of BIPOC individuals in the population of those experiencing homelessness. “While there are differences in counts and definitions across the data sources, one thing remains glaringly consistent – racial inequity,” stated Jamie Rife, Director of Communications and Development at MDHI who will be filling the organization’s Executive Director role on February 1.  

Also included in this year’s report is further information on the region’s unsheltered population. Over the course of a year, 10,870 adults, 1,031 members of families, and 954 youth engaged in services while staying in an unsheltered location. “For the first time, our region is beginning to get more real-time data, including on those staying outdoors,” said Rife. “While the last full Point in Time count in 2020 showed 1,561 individuals staying in an unsheltered location, what we see now is that over the course of a year, this number is 12,855.”

In 2020, the last time a full Point in Time (PIT) count was conducted due to safety concerns related to COVID, it identified 6,104 people experiencing homelessness on a single night. The 2022 PIT is scheduled for Monday, January 24 and will include a full count of both those staying in shelter and those staying in unsheltered locations.  

Also included in the report are implications as well as information on successes in the region. “While homelessness continues to climb for many, the region has seen a 15% decrease in the number of veterans experiencing homelessness, in part due to the regional coordination and the incredible work done by providers in our region, as well as the enhanced resources available,” added Rife. “This is proof of the strides we can make when we work together and have more housing and services available for those experiencing homelessness.”