This data brief summarizes the results of the YOUth Count survey, Allegheny County’s first point-in-time count focused specifically on the number and needs of homeless and/or unstably-housed youth ages 18 through 24 years.
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Data analysis/writers: Hilary Scherer and Abigail Horn
In 2014, the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) conducted a review of its homelessness services system as a first step in planning for and promoting effective strategies for reducing homelessness. This report provides information about the population of families experiencing a housing crisis in Allegheny County from 2009 through 2013, with a particular focus on the 2009 entry cohort.
The vast majority of families had a female head of household, and females were over-represented by nearly 30 percent when compared to the general adult population of Allegheny County. African American–headed families accounted for 60 percent of families served over the five-year period, a rate nearly five times greater than that of the African American population in Allegheny County. While the number of family members accessing homelessness services increased by more than 400 adults and more than 500 children over the five-year period, the overall demographic characteristics of this population remained quite constant.
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Analysis and content: Ryan Burger, Abigail Horn, Brian Bell and Erin Dalton
This report describes individuals who experienced a housing crisis in Allegheny County from 2009 through 2013, with a particular focus on the 2009 entry cohort.
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Analysis and content: Ryan Burger, Abigail Horn, Brian Bell and Erin Dalton
Schools districts and human service systems define homelessness differently (as mandated by their respective regulatory and funding entities), resulting in many youth who are known to only one system. While being homeless is a disruptive experience that often hurts educational achievement, homeless youth are afforded additional supports to counteract these impacts. This report examines the misalignment in the two homeless populations, examining the underlying reasons as well as the potential solutions that would allow both schools and the human services agency to support the larger homeless population.
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Writer: Jeffery Fraser
Research and content: Sanjeev Baidyaroy, Emily Kulick and Erin Dalton
DHS conducted a review of Allegheny County’s services for homeless individuals and families, as part of a strategic plan to improve the quality, accessibility and comprehensiveness of the system; this report focuses on the client perspective of the system and includes a description of current system change activities as well as recommendations for further action.
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Prepared by: Abigail Horn, Evelyn Whitehill and Michael Yonas, DrPH
When its largest provider of Home -Delivered Meals (HDM) suddenly decided to discontinue its service, the Area Agency on Aging (AAA) had just weeks to ensure that 800 frail and disabled adults would continue to get the meals they depended upon. Partnering with six providers, AAA seized the opportunity to reshape the HDM program. By dividing the county into four geographic regions, increasing efficiencies with equipment and staffing, utilizing technology to improve routes and enabling drivers to send alerts should they observe a change in a consumer’s health or well-being, a better and more prevention-focused program resulted.
Designed to inform local leaders, this report places the issue of homeless youth within a national context and provides information about local need, services and strategies to prevent and address homelessness among Allegheny County’s young adults.
This assessment provides information on local immigrant and refugee populations in order to identify current and emerging service needs, gaps and barriers. It includes a set of recommendations for improving their access to services.
DHS is committed to meeting the human services needs of county residents, particularly the county’s most vulnerable populations, through an extensive range of prevention, early intervention, crises management and after–care services. While system involvement is sometimes inevitable, necessary and highly beneficial to consumers, DHS believes that preventing the need for such system interventions can ultimately result in safer, healthier and more cost–effective alternatives for consumers and for the region at–large.
This report begins by presenting a framework for prevention in the human services field. It then goes on to classify and catalog all prevention efforts across DHS, including program descriptions and other key pieces of information that are important to understanding the evaluation status and priorities of each program or service.
This profile of the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Homewood (and subsequent Addendum) was compiled by DHS to assess demographic changes and examine quality of life issues-poverty, education, health care-in Homewood and in the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County to accurately assess the community’s assets and needs.
DHS surveyed providers and DHS staff on behalf of the Immigrants and Internationals Advisory Council to identify the need for limited English proficiency services in the community and assess DHS’s ability to meet those needs. Results of the survey are included in this report.
DHS examined a cohort of homeless individuals to describe the demographic composition and service utilization of the county’s homeless population, as well as to quantify the costs associated with their care.
Homeless individuals in Allegheny County frequently consume public resources and contribute to a measurable and sizable public expense; the consumption of mental health services by the homeless has the most impact on the overall costs calculated in this study; and there is a small high-end user population that has expenses beyond what would be typically anticipated. These high-end users access more behavioral health services and are incarcerated more frequently than the general homeless population; the number of individuals in this high-end user group (<100) is manageable for targeted services; and the costs associated with their care are sizable enough to offer opportunities for savings.
In this analysis, DHS examined the issue of home foreclosures in Allegheny County.
This document, created in response to needs identified by the diverse groups participating in the DHS Immigrants and Internationals Advisory Council, serves as a resource guide for those seeking information about immigrants’ eligibility for public benefits.