How many Columbus people are unhoused? The Community Shelter Board releases annual count

In what local housing advocates are calling an "alarming trend," homelessness in central Ohio is up more than 20% since last year, according to an annual count done in January.

A Jan. 25 "point-in-time" count resulted in 2,337 people designated as unhoused, according to the Community Shelter Board, which released the number Tuesday.

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The 2022 count noted 1,912 unhoused people.

“The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the regional housing shortage are driving numbers in the wrong direction,” Shannon Isom, president and CEO of the Community Shelter Board, said in a statement. “Homelessness, specifically unsheltered homelessness, is a serious and growing problem in many American cities, although very few Midwest cities."

Of the more than 2,300 people who are unhoused, the count showed 1,839 people staying in shelter or transitional housing, up more than 17% from the 1,570 counted in 2022. There also were 498 people living outside or in other areas not meant for living, up more than 46% from the 342 counted in 2022, according to the shelter board.

Although the numbers are concerning, Isom said that knowing them offers a chance to institute change.

"This is an opportunity to ensure that our response reflects what we believe – everyone should have a place to call home," Isom said. "We are taking action now as a region to avoid an irreversible problem.”

Why are so many people homeless in Columbus?

Local leaders pointed to a lack of housing as one of the big reasons so many area people are experiencing homelessness.

“Homelessness is a housing issue,” Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said in a statement. “The chronic under-building of housing in our region is expected to drive 150 new people into homelessness every year that we continue on our current housing trajectory."

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These circumstances are "unacceptable," he said.

From 2017 to 2021, as property values rose, the county lost 38,000 apartments that previously rented for less than $900 a month, according to the shelter board's release.

Now, central Ohio is short 51,000 units for renters who make minimum wage, with just 30 homes that are available and affordable per each 100 residents seeking housing.

“Affordable housing is the greatest challenge facing our community today," said Franklin County Board of Commissioners President John O’Grady. "Franklin County is growing by leaps and bounds, but we won’t be successful until all of our residents are able to share in that success."

Last year, Franklin County gave more than $50 million to help stem issues with homelessness and affordable housing, O'Grady said, but it's not enough. The county will continue to work to address the issue by creating new housing and helping people stay in the homes they have, he said.

What is the count?

The count takes place annually, excluding 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Columbus' count is part of an effort of more than 3,000 cities across the nation to get an idea of how many people face homelessness daily.

Locally, the nonprofit Community Shelter Board leads the effort, with help from 20 other agencies. The counts are submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to inform funding and strategy to reducing homelessness and track progress.

Although the count is likely an underestimate of the true number of homeless people in the city, advocates said it is a start to understanding the extent of homelessness locally and a guidepost to prepare services.

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On Jan. 25, approximately 130 people — volunteers, city workers and staff members of social service organizations — spread out across the city, hoping to find and count those experiencing homelessness. The effort included visiting parking lots, soup kitchens, warming centers, homeless encampments and more.

During that time, more shelter beds were open than are typically, and two overnight warming centers also were open, due to extreme weather. The shelter board said that made it easier to count people who may have been outside under different conditions. But there were also fewer volunteers due to COVID-19.

What will the count change in Columbus?

As they released the increased number of unhoused people locally, area leaders detailed new actions and funding to address homelessness.

The funding, totaling $120 million, comes from federal Emergency Rental Assistance given to the City of Columbus and Franklin County, as well as funding for housing resource specialists in local nonprofit agencies and a community assessment to learn more about economic and demographic changes affecting how the community addresses homelessness, according to a release from the Community Shelter Board.

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Last year, the city and county spent $61 million to address homelessness, but the need has increased, according to the board.

The city was given $68 million and the county $52 million from the federal government, according to the shelter board's release.

Some of the specific ways the city has chosen to spend its money includes:

• $25 million for rent and utility assistance for low-income households, with $900,000 of that going into an emergency rehousing resource fund for immediate assistance to those involuntarily displaced due to owner negligence.

• $3.5 million for housing resources specialists working in nonprofit agencies to help individuals with the housing process.

The Community Shelter Board's planned community assessment will analyze economic and demographic changes affecting the community’s response to homelessness and the housing market in central Ohio, with hopes of identifying recommendations tailored to the community.

dking@dispatch.com

@DanaeKing

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How many people in Columbus are unhoused? The shelter board counted