Homelessness in Salt Lake City

1. Homelessness in Salt Lake City A look at causes and solutions of homelessness By: Alisha Baird, Clayton Beck, Carrie Price and Joycelyn Haley

2. Homelessness • Definition: A long or repetitive episode of continuous lack of regular house or dwelling place, or lack of fixed, regular, and adequate night time residence.

3. Financial Effects of Homelessness on Society • Taxpayers dollars spent on homeless individuals, every year. • $2,414 for hospital fees to treat the homeless individuals • $14,000 per year to keep homeless individuals in overnight jail. • A homeless prevention fund set aside 1.5 billion dollars to help homeless individuals get into houses instead of shelters. (2009) These statistics do not include non-profit organizations contributions.

4. Survey Results for Mental Effects of Homelessness on Society • Survey of 100 college students in Salt Lake Area, male and female, ages 18-35. • 70% said they were emotionally affected by the homeless population. • 76% said they feel sympathetic towards the homeless • 88% said they avoid the homeless areas. • 36 % said they were spiritually affected.

5. Crime Committed by the Homeless • Stealing • Food, Clothing, Shelter items, blankets etc. • Panhandling • Drugs • Dealing and buying illegal drugs

6. Crimes Against the Homeless • Rape • Mace • Assault • Physical and sexual • Arson • Robbed • Police harassment

7. Homeless Youth • Either runaways or castaways • 82% are abused either physically, mentally, sexually. • Almost half identify themselves a LGBT • (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) • Some youth prefer to be homeless rather than live with abuse at home, or put in a group home. • Utah does not currently have a shelter dedicated for the homeless youth.

8. Mental Illness in the Homeless Population • 98% of the chronic homeless have a severe mental illness • Personality disorders and Schizophrenia • Debilitating inability to deal with everyday stresses and problems that we all face. • Keeps them from functioning properly in society

9. Relevance of our issue for classmates Who is affected by homelessness • Tax payers • Communities • Businesses • Homeowners Everyone in one way or another, directly or indirectly

10. Why did we choose our subject • The City of Salt Lake is experiencing a significant increase in its homeless population. • This is something we all feel is of importance to everyone. We hope to raise awareness and promote change.

11. Difficulties we encountered • Two members of our group dropped out during the process • Finding time to meet together

12. How did our views change • We are more aware of the problems caused by homelessness and who is affected by it • We’ve come to realize how lucky we really are for what we have • We are even more motivated to help make a change in any way we can

13. Unexpected findings • We did not realize how serious and prevalent the issue of homelessness is. • 98% of the chronic homeless have severe mental illness. • No current shelter exists exclusively for homeless youth within Utah. • 80% of Utahans are two paychecks away from being homeless. • Living expenses in the Wasatch Front are 70% higher than the National average. • In 2009, The Road Home served 37% more clients than in 2008.

14. Anything we would do differently • We would feel more prepared if we start the major projects earlier in the semester. • Work with a smaller group.

15. Straightforward Solutions • Create more affordable housing so household do not pay more than 30% of their income on housing. • Update minimum wage requirements to current economic times. • Develop homelessness prevention systems. • Once a homeless person or family is housed, provide them with access to services to assist them in meeting their daily needs.