The Road Home, which operates out of The Salt Lake Community Shelter, recently analyzed shelter usage over a five year period (2002-2007). The research discovered 14% of shelter clients use more than 6 months of shelter nights. Interestingly, the small group of chronically homeless uses 63% of all the shelter nights The Road Home provides.
The vast majority of people who experience homelessness are homeless for a relatively short period of time. However, a small percentage remain homeless for a long period of time, usually because of serious disabilities. These are the "chronically homeless."
Realizing a small percentage of the homeless are using more than half of the resources has created the national Housing First approach. The Housing First model focuses on the chronically homeless and assists with locating housing first. After housing is obtained, the chronically homeless are helped with their other problems through intense case management.
