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SALT LAKE CITY — As the number of homeless encampments throughout the city is on the rise, the Salt Lake City Council is questioning what more can be done as it attempts a "herculean lift" amid increased need.
The issue of homelessness isn't new for Salt Lake City, but its visibility seems to be growing, along with the city. A 2022 homelessness report by the Utah Department of Workforce Services' Office of Homeless Services revealed that the homeless population is increasing, with the number of Utahns experiencing homelessness for the first time increasing by 14% from 2020 to 2021.
There are many possible factors for the increase — skyrocketing housing costs, rising rents, COVID-19 and its economic impact. As the need has increased, so has state funding over recent years, with funds being allocated to address issues such as affordable housing.
Resources, proposed plans and reports on homelessness have become a regular topic in Salt Lake City Council work sessions and meetings. Last year, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall appointed former council member Andrew Johnston as the director of homelessness policy and outreach.
Johnston coordinates homeless services and resources with providers and key stakeholders, presenting updates to the council regularly. Here's what was revealed in Johnston's update to the council during a work session on Tuesday and questions the council had.
How big is the need?
The number of Utahns experiencing homelessness for the first time isn't the only metric on the rise — the state report also revealed that the total number of individuals experiencing homelessness, both unsheltered and sheltered, rose in the annual point-in-time count.
The point-in-time count is a method of measuring who meets the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development definition of literal homelessness in a geographic area in a single night.
Literal homelessness is defined by HUD as staying in an:
- Emergency Shelter, including Domestic Violence Service Providers
- Transitional Housing, including Domestic Violence Service Providers
- A place not meant for human habitation (such as in a vehicle or a city park)
Yet, as the need has increased, shelter capacities have mostly remained the same. Homeless resource centers have continued to record high occupancy rates over the past few months, with the most recent data putting most centers around 96% of capacity. Johnston noted growing encampments along the Jordan River and in some city parks.
"I acknowledge that we as a city are doing a Herculean lift here, and I hope that everyone else follows the example of it and buys in so that the humanity here is centered and we find good solutions to this," said Councilwoman Victoria Petro-Eschler.
While winter may seem far off amid the record temperature weather and sweltering heat, fall is quickly approaching and no official plans for temporary overflow shelters have been released. Johnston estimated the number of beds needed in Salt Lake County to be around 1,700, with year-round resource centers currently fulfilling 1,300 of those.
The scrambling of city leaders and resource providers to find temporary winter overflow shelter is not new. A bill passed in the 2022 legislative session, HB440, requires cities to come together and submit a plan for summer and winter overflow to the Office of Homeless Services. Failure to submit a plan, or if a plan is insufficient, the state would then have the ability to flex capacity at existing resource centers and use state-owned facilities for overflow.
As the need persists so does the question of where the remaining beds will come from. The council questioned whether state or county support could help the city meet the growing demand.
"We talk a lot about our need to collaborate with the state and our local coalition for a lot of good reasons, but we're the only city that I'm aware of locally who's doing this number of services on the full continuum based on best practices," said Johnston. "It's not enough we know that it is not enough. But this framework and the bones are here for a system that could work very, very well as we keep investing in it and working hard at this."
What is being done and is it working?
While homeless resource centers continue to record high occupancy rates, some council members questioned if the numbers truly reflected the need.
"We have hundreds of people in the street. There's obviously a need, but maybe there isn't," said Councilman Alejandro Puy. "Maybe there is some people that just don't want it or the option, right?"
The question highlights the complexities of addressing homelessness, including those who may or may not consider themselves unsheltered.
"Some folks clearly, when the VOA outreach teams engage with them, do not view themselves as homeless in any way. And that's their right because we have a large population in this country who lives out in vehicles — RV parks, itinerant folks, seasonal workers," said Johnston. "And so it's a very sort of nuanced thing about how somebody self identifies what they see as their needs or what they'd like."
To best understand individuals who may be experiencing homelessness and their direct needs, Johnston emphasized the importance of continued relationships and contact through rapid intervention and outreach teams.
"One of the hardest things, sometimes, for cities who do a lot of housing work is connecting folks who are unsheltered to the actual housing. It seems intuitive that people just flow that way, but it doesn't always work that way," answered Johnston.
"I think that if you look at the just numbers of folks who are unsheltered, we know there's a lot and we know that we've filled motel rooms in past years with hundreds," he added.
The use of motels has grown complicated, with many operators the city has utilized in the past selling the buildings. Some motels that were utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic may continue to operate through Volunteers of America staff. Staffing shortages and the decreased supply of motels have had an impact.
The limited number of beds at the motels can currently be used to house those waiting on vouchers or about to receive housing, said Johnston. Providing a number of options for temporary housing — congregate shelter or even a motel — helps cater to different needs. Someone living in an RV or car may be resistant to a congregate shelter but may stay in a motel since their vehicle will be nearby, he added.
He noted the frustration of city officials and citizens in delayed response to encampments or homelessness-related issues, while also emphasizing the importance of thoughtful intervention.
"That's how this should work. When you resolve a camp, you resolve it into shelter housing. And that rapid intervention team is our proactive approach as we keep working on housing and other interventions to make that work," said Johnston.
He also encouraged the utilization of the SLC Mobile app to notify city officials and leaders of encampments. Additional staff has been hired to help manage the number of requests sent into the app to help increase response time. The app received approximately 6,000 requests last year and was managed by one part-time staff member.
To address staffing concerns amid homeless providers, Councilwoman Ana Valdemoros suggested relying on those with firsthand experience.
"We do have the resources within the homeless community. Those are a little bit ahead or more able to work, maybe those are the ones that we employ, so that they can help because they already have that community knowledge," she said.
Johnston acknowledged the possibility, adding that programs were in place that could be bolstered.
Future plans
While the city has many programs and approaches to homelessness, council members questioned whether all resources were effective.
"We have a lot of programs going on ... can we make sure that we're doing this efficiently and effectively?" asked Councilwoman Amy Fowler. "So that we're not just spinning our wheels? Because I think that we underutilized some of the teams and programs that are already out there doing the work."
To help determine the effectiveness of the programs, the council requested information on hotel vouchers and financial forecasting to plan for future programs. Johnston also noted that future proposals and plans would be coming in the next six to nine months as state homelessness officials allocated funding granted in the recent legislative session and fiscal year 2022 budget.
"You're looking at this from all of the facets," Fowler told Johnston. "It's hard to know that people need help and we don't know how to help them. We're doing everything we can on all sides."
