Homeless in Metropolitan Denver Point‐In‐Time Study, 2011
Table 8. Top Five Reasons for Homelessness – Respondents in Households With and Without Children Households Without Households With Reasons Children Children Frequency Percent Frequency Percent Lost job/can’t find work 1,304 39.4 756 34.3 14.4 509 23.1 Housing costs too high 476 Relationship or family break‐up/death in the family 454 13.7 482 21.8 Substance abuse 484 14.6 141 6.4 9.2 303 13.7 Eviction/foreclosure 305
6. Disabling Conditions HUD requires that the point‐in‐time survey include questions asking respondents to identify if, at the time of the survey, they had any of the following disabling conditions – serious mental illness, a serious medical condition, chronic substance abuse issues, a developmental disability, or HIV/AIDS. Nearly half (44.5%) respondents reported that they or some adult in their household had at least one disabling condition including some “other” disabling condition. While almost one‐third (30.2%) reported only one disabling condition, nearly one‐in‐eight (12.3%) reported that adults in their household had two or more disabling conditions. The largest group of respondents indicated that they experienced serious medical or physical conditions or a serious mental illness, followed closely by substance abuse. Figure 3. Respondents ‐ Disabling Conditions Respondents - Disabling Conditions
25%
20%
19.6%
19.4% 17.8%
15%
10%
5% 3.7% 2.1% 0% Medical condition
Mental illness
Substance abuse
Metropolitan Denver Homeless Initiative
Developmental disability
Other
1.0% HIV/AIDS
Respondents in households without children were approximately twice as likely to report an adult with a serious physical or mental health condition or a serious substance abuse condition.
9