ACCESS Housing, Inc.

Community Need and Constituency Served

ACCESS Housing targets families that are homeless or in danger of becoming homeless in the Denver Metro area and especially in Adams County. Homelessness is more prevalent in Adams County, as it has the lowest per-capita income of all the metro Denver counties. On a typical night in Adams County, 1,205 children and adults are homeless with no where to go, no food and often no hope, of which 76.7% are female and 90.1% are households with children. The primary reasons sited for their homelessness include: unaffordable housing costs (43.8%); job loss/can’t find work (24.3%); family break-up or death (13.9%); low wages (9.8%); and high utility costs (7.8%)[1]

One major study on homelessness found that: 80-85% of the people who enter the homelessness service delivery system (shelters, for example) receive one or two services, exit homelessness, and do not return. The remaining individuals are designated as episodically (5-10%) or chronically (10%) homeless. They use more than half the resources in the homelessness service delivery system.[2] Research is clear that chronically homeless individuals are disproportionately costly to taxpayers. The costs to the system include emergency medical care, incarceration and shelter. However, the costs of lost potential, especially for children, can be much harder to quantify and are much longer term. For example, 25% of homeless children lose one full grade level of progress per episode of homelessness.[3] Seventy-five percent (75%) of homeless children have at least one developmental delay and 44% have at least two.[4] Homeless children suffer from one or more major, chronic medical conditions almost twice as often as housed children (16% compared to 9% of the general population).[5]

Of the families we serve, 40% are Latino; 33% are Caucasian; 20% are African-American, 5% are Native American, and 2% are Asian. Most of the families we serve are comprised of single mothers with children who have experienced or witnessed domestic violence or other crimes at some point in her life.

The most obvious benefit to families who participate in our programs is that they have shelter and do not have to expose their children to the dangers of living on the streets. Families report that the benefits of the case management and support services they received during their involvement in our programs are life altering and long-term. Clients learn new skills to help them secure stable employment, navigate complex social services systems, and maintain permanent housing.

[1] Metro Denver Homeless Initiative Point in Time Survey, 2007.

[2] Culhane, Dennis P. PhD., Wayne D. Parker, PhD., Barbara Poppe, Kennen S. Gross, MPH, and Ezra Sykes, MPA, “Accountability, Cost-Effectiveness, and Program Performance: Progress Since 1998” http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/homelessness/symposium07/culhane/

[3] National Children’s Literacy Project.

[4] Homeless Children: America’s New Outcasts. Better Homes Fund, 1999.

[5] Molinar, JM; et al. “Constantly Compromised: Impact of Homelessness on Children.” Journal of Social Issues 46(4):109-124, 1990.