Every year, the Community Shelter Board releases a point-in-time count to measure homelessness in Franklin County. The 2024 point-in-time count conducted on January 25, 2024, revealed a 1.8% increase in homelessness from the January 2023 count. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is crucial to understand the broader context:
- Increase in Homelessness: The point-in-time count found 2,380 people experiencing homelessness – 43 more individuals than the previous year. While the point-in-time count provides valuable information about trends, 2,380 represents only the number of people experiencing homelessness on January 24th. The actual number of people experiencing homelessness throughout the year is much higher.
- Long-Term Homelessness: The number of people experiencing long-term homelessness who need permanent supportive housing (PSH) grew by an alarming 47% last year.
- Family Homelessness: Family homelessness is also at an all-time high, indicating a growing crisis for vulnerable families in our community.
CHN’s model of affordable, permanent supportive housing is addressing a critical need in our community. In 2023, we served 2,233 individuals — 423 of whom were children — across our 1,400+ units. Permanent supportive housing works. In fact, 99% of our residents successfully maintained their housing last year.
To meet the needs of the human beings who make up the 47% increase in long-term homelessness, our community requires about 800 more PSH units. We are committed to addressing this need and, in 2025, we are set to add 88 PSH units to our community.
To read more about what we accomplished in 2023 and what we have planned for the future, click HERE to view our annual report. More information on how to support CHN’s ongoing efforts can be found HERE.
