8/1/2007 - The Health & Human Services Department released the 2007 Portland Point in Time Survey.

The Survey was conducted on January 30th, 2007, and was again this year completed in cooperation with the Balance of the State and the Penobscot Countinuums of Care. The Survey is a count of all homeless individuals and families living in emergency shelter, on the streets, or encampments, in cars, or in places unfit for human habitation.

Homeless people were asked to complete detailed surveys to learn more about their housing history, health and employment status, and future needs. Of 256 homeless people in Portland the night of the survey, 232 were eligible to complete the survey and 187 agreed to answer at least some questions (an 81% response rate).

With PIT survey results from 2004 and 2006, we now have three years of data to compare. While it is risky to draw firm conclusions of trends based on surveys completed on one night of the year, it is still constructive to look at patterns. Some of these are summarized below:

*There were substantially fewer guests in Portland’s shelters in 2007 than in 2004, 256 versus 300, which is very positive;
*The percentage of chronically homeless is down for the third year in a row; in 2007 only 19% of adults fit this definition, compared to 26% in 2006 and 37% in 2004. This reflects, in part, the continued success of Logan Place in keeping chronically homeless individuals stably housed.
*The number of homeless adults reporting having no health insurance dropped 35% between 2006 and 2007, from 34% to 22%.
*Perhaps in part due to the increase of those with health insurance, more respondents (61% in 2007 versus 55% in 2006) reported using physicians’ offices, public health clinics or Health Care for the Homeless for their regular health care instead of a hospital emergency room. Use of emergency rooms for primary care decreased slightly from 28% to 24% of those responding.

Still, some of the positive changes seen between 2004 and 2006 appear to have eroded a year later. In particular:

*Of the 96 individuals in 2007 who reported having a condition that limited their ability to work, only 18% reported receiving SSI or SSDI. This is a negative shift from the 2006 PIT survey, when 56% of disabled respondents said they were getting these benefits. The 2007 results are closer to those of 2004, when 80% of disabled individuals said they were not receiving SSI/SSDI.
*In 2007, fewer respondents reported receiving General Assistance (GA), food stamps, or housing subsidies (Section 8 vouchers, BRAP, Shelter+Care, or RAC+) than in 2006. The largest percentage decreases were in GA (55% decrease) and in Food Stamps (40% decrease).
*The employment picture also appears to have worsened. Fewer respondents in 2007 reported being employed for wages than either in 2006 or 2004. In addition, since 2004 the percentage reporting they are unable to work at all has risen steadily; in 2004 only 16% said this was true. This rose to 23% in 2006, and 27% in 2007.
*A slightly higher percentage of homeless people reported that their last regular residence was in Portland (32%); fewer came from other Maine towns (27%) or from out of state (35%). Only about half said they would prefer to remain in Portland; of the remainder, about half had no geographic preference and half identified another town, state, or country.

Click here to view 2007 Portland Point in Time Survey.