SAN ANTONIO – The South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless has released this year’s Point-In-Time Count results. It’s a one-night snapshot that provides information about those experiencing homelessness.
According to the SARAH, the count data was captured at the end of January as per HUD nationwide requirements.
The information collected helps involved organizations better serve the communities most in need and prioritize critical funding decisions.
According to the count, over 3,000 people were counted as experiencing homelessness this year. A 5% increase from the 2022 count.
“We made some great progress with unsheltered homelessness, saw a decline in those numbers,” said Katie Vela, Executive Director, SARAH.
The number of unsheltered people dropped by 15.6% from last year.
However, the number of those sheltered increased by 16.4% from 20-22 something vela says is due to the number of families that are facing eviction and rising housing costs.
“I don’t think we were surprised to see that family homelessness was on the rise without the eviction moratorium protections and consistent emergency rental assistance funding. We were expecting to see those numbers,” said Vela.
Those who have experienced homelessness for a year or more and have a disability decreased by 33% but when looking at the unsheltered count—chronic homelessness went down by 55%.
“So, the biggest need that we must address unsheltered homelessness is permanent supportive housing. So, the housing bond dollars recently funded some new units, and this is where case management and services are on site; it’s somewhere someone can stay permanently. So, if they’re on disability income, have severe mental health, intellectual developmental disabilities, it’s hard to sustain housing without any social support and ongoing support,” said Vela.
Katie Vela says they have also been able to identify some equity issues.
“Black or African American people are over-represented in our numbers by three times our census population,” said Vela.
The count reveals that children between the ages of zero to 17 represented just 0.3 percent of the unsheltered count.
Another key finding was that housing was once again identified as a top need by those who are experiencing unsheltered homelessness, followed by food and transportation.
There was also an increase in persons who are homeless due to domestic violence situations while veterans remain the lowest reported count of unsheltered persons in San Antonio and Bexar County.