Vancouver, WA. — Official Release: Council for the Homeless has released its 2023 Homeless Crisis Response System Report for Clark County, Wash. The report found that between 2022 and 2023, there was a 3% decrease in the number of people experiencing homelessness, and a 17% decrease in people identifying as newly homeless. Despite these positive outcomes, homelessness in Clark County continues to be a persistent and ongoing crisis. Continued collaboration among the Clark County Homelessness System must continue.
According to the report, 8,752 people from 4,447 households experienced homelessness in 2023, with 58% identifying as “newly homeless.” Forty-two percent of households identified as “Black, Indigenous and people of color” (BIPOC). This illustrates the continued disproportionality of homelessness experienced by BIPOC communities in Clark County.
While the number of people and households reporting homelessness in 2023 was lower than in 2022, one year of data does not represent a trend. It can take at least five years for collected data to become a trend. “The Homeless Crisis Response System practices and programs are continuously evaluated for effectiveness, as well as to identify gaps in services and resources,” notes Sunny Wonder, chief operations officer at Council for the Homeless. “We intend to build upon the efforts that lead to a decrease in homelessness.”
What is a continuing trend is the lack of housing affordable to people with low to very low income and rent and move-in expenses that are out of reach for too many people. Some of the positive outcomes and improvements seen in 2023:
- 3% decrease in total people experiencing homelessness
- 17% decrease in people identifying as ‘newly homeless’
- 25% increase in people exiting Rapid Re-Housing to permanent housing
- Increase in the number of youth and young adults being housed
- Increase in Veterans exiting to housing
With nearly 9,000 people in our community experiencing homelessness over the course of 2023, and 5,000+ reporting they were newly homeless in that period, it is clear that the demand for services continues to be high. The need for ongoing investment in data-driven housing solutions in our community continues. “There are many people and organizations trying to solve homelessness in our community. The greater our collaboration, the greater our results will be for the entire community,” shares Sesany Fennie-Jones, executive director at Council for the Homeless.
The report is available at https://www.councilforthehomeless.org/annual-system-data-2023/
A public dashboard displaying data from publicly-funded homeless services agencies, updated monthly, is available at www.councilforthehomeless.org/system-dashboard.
About the Author
Discover more from Right Now Oregon
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
The missing data in this report and the system dashboard is the omission of the root causes of homelessness. The website seems to focus on housing costs, and wages yet the only mention of mental health is in one sentence of one paragraph:
“They may also be living with serious mental and physical health conditions with symptoms that make it difficult to have the capacity and ability to make rational decisions.”
I find it very concerning that millions of dollars pour into homeless services, and create a revolving door scenario. Housing first policy has been a national failure, some cities like Seattle have found the vast majority of chronic homelessness is directly related to addiction, and mental health. What is most concerning is as we waste valuable resources housing chronic drug & alcohol abusers, we let down the most vulnerable among us. Women with children, and actual hard working members of our community who face a momentary crisis, cannot get the help they need because the system is overwhelmed.