FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

First New England-wide Point in Time homeless data presented; the New England Region Homeless Management Information System (NERHMIS) Collaborative, UMass Boston’s Center for Social Policy, and others partner to expand understanding of America’s most vulnerable citizens—the homeless.

Boston, May 14, 2007 – Over 28,000 people are homeless in New England on a given day, according to a presentation at the third annual HUD New England Regional HMIS Conference—“Making the Data Count.” The conference convened a coalition from across New England of homeless management information system (HMIS) stakeholders including homeless service providers, government officials, policy makers, researchers, and formerly homeless people. It was hosted by the Center for Social Policy at UMass Boston’s McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies in partnership with the New England Regional HMIS (NERHMIS) Collaborative.

Tatjana Meschede, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate at the Center for Social Policy, presented the first ever New England-wide homeless data from the HUD-mandated Point in Time (PIT) count process. On one particular winter day, every community that receives HUD funding counts the number of people living in shelter or on the street. “These are the latest data we have,” said Dr. Meschede, stating that these data will be released in a formal report this summer. Though the data are still being refined, “we know that there are over 28,000 homeless people throughout New England at a given point in time.”

The findings draw from 43 communities—HUD defined “Continuums of Care”—throughout New England. Forty-five percent of the counted homeless people are persons in families, and 15 percent stay in locations not meant for human habitation even on cold winter nights, such as the streets, cars, or abandoned buildings. According to these data, Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine have the highest homelessness rates in the region. The full report will be available this summer on the Center for Social Policy and NERHMIS websites.
The NERHMIS Collaborative, co-sponsor of the conference along with Abt Associates and Cloudburst Consulting, was founded in August 2003. It originated when a small group of HMIS implementers from each New England state started meeting regularly to share common strategies, debate current homeless policy initiatives, and find effective means by which to better understand the extent and nature of homelessness across New England.

“It is our moral obligation to make sure homeless people count,” said Barbara Ritter, the director of the Michigan Statewide HMIS Project, and a featured conference speaker. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is trying to do just that with its emphasis of HMIS to inform its policies. Mark Johnston, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special Needs for HUD, was the opening keynote speaker. He noted that since 1996 HUD has shifted more resources towards actually housing homeless people as opposed to just servicing them. HUD is also working to support communities using the latest research and bold innovations such as ending chronic homelessness—typically the hardest to serve homeless people—within in 10 years. “In 2006, 171 Continuums of Care reported reductions in chronic homelessness over 2005,” said Johnston. Yet, despite HUD’s increase of funding for housing and services for the homeless, the need for housing is outpacing what is provided. There are 750,000 literally homeless people on a given night nationally, and HUD provides housing for 160,000 of those people. HUD continues to work on two major priorities among its many homeless programs including ending chronic homelessness and moving homeless individuals and families into permanent housing.

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To learn more about NERHMIS, and join their national list serve, go to: www.nerhmis.org.

To learn more about the Center for Social Policy, go to: www.mccormack.umb.edu/csp

About NERHMIS The New England Regional Homeless Management Information System was founded in 2004. It is a member-group organization founded by and for HMIS service providers to share information and leverage resources to better collect and disseminate information about homeless people in New England. Not the only such regional HMIS group in the U.S., it is the largest and first such group of its kind.

About the Center for Social Policy at UMass Boston The Center for Social Policy is part of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The Center provides expertise on policies and practices that reduce social and economic inequities in Massachusetts and the nation. The Center has been a leader in HMIS nationally since 1996.

About UMass Boston Established in 1964, UMass Boston prides itself on providing challenging teaching, distinguished research, and extensive public service to Boston and the Commonwealth. Through its six colleges—Liberal Arts, Science and Mathematics, Management, Nursing and Health Sciences, Public and Community Service and Graduate College of Education, the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies, and the Division of Corporate, Continuing, and Distance Education— UMass Boston offers undergraduate and graduate study in more than 150 fields. For more information, please see www.umb.edu.