The Scale and Scope of

Family Homelessness in Richland

County: 2004-2015
Bret Kloos, Ph.D., Nyssa Snow-Hill, MA, Douglas Archie III, MA
Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina

4113 people used Family Homeless Services

in Richland County from 2004 to October 2015

Family Homeless on a Single Night

-Point in Time Count Data for Richland County

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Homeless Students in Richland County

-McKinney Vento Data for Richland 1 and 2

Types of Family Homelessness

- Cluster Analysis of 12 Years of Service Use

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Estimating Need for Housing and Deficits in Capacity to

Provide Housing Assistance in Richland County 2014
ESTIMATED NEED

HOUSING CAPACITY

Emergency Housing
(2014-15 estimates)
Family Shelter

1800

60 households

Transitional Housing
(2014-15 count)
St. Lawrence Place

1025

53 households in
2014

CHA Apartments (2013

applications)
Columbia Housing
Authority

5500

2200

31,266

3100

Housing Subsidies/
Section 8
(2014 applications)
Columbia Housing
Authority

Affordable Housing Out of Reach for Many

Bedrooms

HUD
Fair Market
Rent 2015

Needed for
30% of
Income =
Housing
Wage per
Hour

Needed for
30% of
Income =
Housing
Wage per
Year

Number of
hours
needed for
federal
minimum
wage

$656

$12.62

$26,240

70

$778

$14.96

$31,120

83

$1026

$19.73

$41,040

109

Source: http://nlihc.org/library/wagecalc

Do Homeless People Deserved to be Helped?

-Random Call Survey of 899 Richland County Residents

Participated in Volunteer Work with the Homeless

-Random Call Survey of 899 Richland County Residents

Our Homeless Columbia, SC 1989

Community Committee for the Homeless produced a report about the scale
and scope of homelessness in Columbia.
This committee was organized by Patton Adams as Mayor of Columbia
and chaired by Fred Zeigler.
Among several concerns, the committee noted that Columbia had no
capacity to provide transitional housing.
Trinity Housing Corporation was founded in 1989

Our Homeless Families Columbia SC, 2016

Different types of family homelessness would best be served with different interventions
tailored to family needs. The report reviews best practices.

Analyses of requests for housing services document that need for services clearly out paces
Richland Countys current capacity.

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Need for much more affordable housing.

Develop rapid re-housing for large majority of families who have one crisis.
Expand emergency housing capacity with rapid re-housing.
Target transitional housing for families most in need of extended support.

Family homelessness services need coordination across a continuum of care.

Greater coordination and support from the broader community has been critical for success in other
municipalities.