Homelessness In Utah

As of January 2019, Utah had

an estimated 2,798
experiencing homelessness on
any given day (US Interagency
Council on Homelessness).
This includes not only
individuals experiencing
chronic homelessness but also
family units and veterans.
The NHCHC did a study on the
amount of people being tested for
Covid at health centers with 330(h)
funding compared to health centers
that don’t receive 330(h) funding.
330(h) refers to Health Care for the
Homeless funding, which means
centers that receive this kind of
funding would be testing more
homeless people than centers that
don’t receive this funding.
In this study they found that health
centers without any 330(h) funding
had a positive rate of 12.32%, all
centers with some amount of 330(h)
funding had a positive rate of
11.39%, and centers that were
exclusively funded by 330(h) had a
positive rate of 3.14%. This means
that centers testing more homeless
people had a lower positive rate
than other health centers (NHCHC).
So while the homeless population
may not be having higher rates of
infection than others, they are
being affected in unique ways.
Nguyen with ABC news said that
the Road Home was already
having issues with a high demand
for housing space, but with the
new social distancing guidelines in
place it has been even harder to
accommodate everyone
(Nguyen).
In 2005 Utah started a housing first policy
that helped get people into a home no matter
if they had mental illness issues or problems
with substance abuse. Since then chronic
homelessness had dropped by 91% up to
2015, and this Housing First policy got most
of the credit for this dramatic drop. From
2016 to 2018 however the rate of chronic
homelssness doubled, which is thought to be
directly tied to the Housing First policy losing
its funding in 2015 (Scruggs).
Although this program did lose its
funding, there are still some
programs working to get people off
the streets and into houses.The
Road Home is best known for its
emergency housing program, but
it also has a Rapid Rehousing
Program that works to get families
experiencing homelessness back
into stable housing.
The first step to achieving some
stability in their life is to have a
home. Even if they are struggling
with mental illness or substance
abuse, having a home can be a
huge help to getting their life back
on track (Ivis). This is why the
housing first policy was so crucial
to lowering the rate of
homelessness in Utah in past
years.
The reduction in funding for
rehousing programs has caused
the rate to go back up in recent
years, but there are still
organizations such as the road
home that are working to help get
families in particular back into
stable housing situations.
If Utah wants to start lowering
their rate of homelessness again,
the housing first policy must be
reinstated. This would mean our
local government would have to
realocate money towards
subsidised housing and social
programs that would help get
people into a stable residence.
 Works Cited
Ivis García, and Keuntae Kim. “‘I Felt Safe’: The Role of the Rapid Rehousing Program in Supporting the Security of Families
Experiencing Homelessness in Salt Lake County, Utah.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public
Health, vol. 17, no. 4840, July 2020, p. 4840. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3390/ijerph17134840.

Nguyen, Rosie. “How the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Impacting Utah's Homeless Population.” ABC4 Utah, ABC4 Utah, 8 Aug. 2020,
www.abc4.com/news/top-stories/how-the-covid-19-pandemic-is-impacting-utahs-homeless-population/.

NHCHC. (August 14, 2020). Number of positive coronavirus tests at health centers in the U.S. as of August 2020, by funding
status* [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved February 22, 2021, from
https://www-statista-com.libprox1.slcc.edu/statistics/1135450/coronavirus-positive-health-centers-us-by-funding-type/

Scruggs, Gregory. “Once a National Model, Utah Struggles with Homelessness.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 10 Jan. 2019,
www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-homelessness-housing/once-a-national-model-utah-struggles-with-homelessness-idUSKC
N1P41EQ.

“Utah Homelessness Statistics.” Homeless in Utah Statistics 2018. Homeless Estimation by State | US Interagency Council on
Homelessness,
www.usich.gov/homelessness-statistics/ut/#:~:text=As%20of%20January%202019%2C%20Utah,and%20Urban%20Develo
pment%20(HUD).