Housing Data Snapshot
By the Numbers
This snapshot provides information on progress in the work to end and prevent homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Three sections are included that illustrate housing needs and successes. In addition to data, each section provides an overview and detailed explanations to describe what the numbers mean and why it matters.
One Number
The total number of actively homeless individuals in the community
Movement
Inflow & Outflow
A closer look at the number of individuals who move into and out of homelessness
Coordinated Entry
Quarterly data on individuals and households seeking housing assistance
2022 Housing Data Factsheet
One Number
The One Number is generated from a By-Name List within the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) and captures the number of people enrolled in Emergency Shelter, Transitional Housing, Street Outreach, Permanent Housing (if there is no move-in date to housing yet) and Coordinated Entry projects in HMIS. The One Number includes both sheltered homelessness and a portion of individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. In addition, the One Number can be broken down by both household composition and population type; elements include single individuals, families, unaccompanied youth, veterans, and people experiencing chronic homelessness.
The One Number can also be analyzed by inflow to, and outflow from, homelessness. By comparing One Number data over time (including by household composition and by inflow/outflow), the community can identify trends. Once identified, these trends can then inform interventions. Whereas the Point-in-Time Count provides a one-night snapshot of the number of people experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness, the One Number provides a real-time, comprehensive picture of who is experiencing homelessness across the community. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg data team has developed a “reliability threshold” of 5% for the One Number data. Please see below for more detailed information about methodology and reliability.
People Experiencing Homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg:
Data Updated May 31, 2023
The reliability score for this month is 0.02. Please see below for more information and methodology.
1,024
People in Families
(327 Total Households)
2,141
Single Individuals
164
Unaccompanied Youth
(Single Individuals Age 18-24)
1,024
People in Families
(327 Total Households)
2,141
Single Individuals
164
Unaccompanied Youth
(Single Individuals Age 18-24)
Key Findings and Analysis
Considering inflow (into homelessness) and outflow (out of homelessness), here are some noteworthy trends:
As of May 31, 2023, there are 3,162 individuals experiencing homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. This total includes 2,141 single individuals (of which 164 are unaccompanied youth); and 327 families (comprised of 1044 people). Included in the total of 3,162 individuals are 264 homeless Veterans and 588 individuals who are experiencing chronic homelessness.
During May, 729 individuals entered homelessness (inflow) and 377 exited (outflow). Of the 729 individuals entering homelessness, 73% (530) were newly identified, whereas 13% (97) represented returns to homelessness from permanent housing and 14% (102) returned from an inactive status. Of the 377 individuals exiting homelessness, 54% (205) moved to permanent housing and 46% (172) exited homelessness to an inactive status, which means that they had not been engaged in services for the previous 30 days.
According to the latest One Number data, disaggregated by race and ethnicity, individuals who identify as Black/African American continue to experience homelessness at rates much higher than their proportion of the Mecklenburg County population (75% vs. 31%) while Whites experience homelessness at a rate much lower than their prevalence in the population (15% vs 47%). Asian individuals have a prevalence of 1% in the homeless population but comprise 6% in overall population of Mecklenburg County. Individuals who identify as Hispanic/Latino have a prevalence of 5% in the homeless population but comprise 13% of the Mecklenburg County population.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg data team has developed a “reliability threshold” for the One Number and subpopulation data; and set it at 5%. The threshold is calculated by taking the actual active number of the people on the By-Name list (pulled from HMIS on the last day of each month) and subtracting the number of active people expected to be on the By-Name list (the number of people expected to be active if we take the prior month’s active total, subtract the current month’s outflow, and add the current month’s inflow). The difference is divided by the actual active number to give us the monthly data reliability. If the data had a 0% reliability, it would mean that the actual and the expected were the same. There are any number of reasons why community data may have a data reliability score greater than 0. In some cases, people enter and exit our homeless services system to a non-homeless situation within the same month. This means that they are not ever counted as part of our monthly active number. Similarly, we may see people returning from housing or inactive status and then exiting to housing in the same month. In addition, both Street Outreach and Coordinated Entry workflows exit clients from the system after 90 days of no contact. The exit date for clients who have been unable to be contacted for 90 days is the date of last contact. This means that these providers may exit clients in a previous month, which impacts the overall active and inflow/outflow numbers. Finally, HMIS is administrative data; and ever changing. Anytime that providers update client data in the system, where it involves creating a program entry; exiting a client; or changing a client exit destination, there will be an impact on the overall system data and the associated monthly active and inflow/outflow numbers.