The OAHC gathers data about homelessness in Ottawa County in a variety of ways. Eleven agencies in the county participate in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) which tracks information about homeless persons and families in order to facilitate a more comprehensive service delivery. The OAHC uses the HMIS system to conduct a Point in Time study twice a year, in January and August. See attached documents for data from the most recent studies.
The OAHC also contributes to two HUD studies of homeless data. The Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) gathers data from around the country and local reports for 2008 and 2009 can be found at http://www.hudhdx.info/ and click on the AHAR Local Reports link. The PULSE gathers quarterly data on new homeless persons.
The OAHC also partners with Ottawa Area Independent School District (OAISD) to gather accurate data on homeless youth. During the annual student count days, local schools identify numbers of homeless unaccompanied youth. See attached document for September 2010 numbers. Other data regarding housing and youth can be found in the Youth Assessment Survey conducted by the Ottawa County Health Department at http://www.miottawa.org/HealthComm/Health/reports/2009.htm. Nearly 5 percent of the students surveyed reported not having a place to stay at some point during the twelve months preceding the survey.
NOTE: None of the data made available identifies specific characteristics of any homeless person.
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Ottawa County will be submitting quarterly data to HUD in order to track new homeless persons. For the purposes of this count, “new” indicates a person who has not used homeless housing services within the last 15 months. Between July 1 and Sept 31, there were 234 new homeless persons counted which is approximately 25% of the total homeless for the same period.
