From October 1, 2010 to September 30, 2011, Joseph's House and Shelter in Troy, NY provided 10,055 nights of temporary shelter to 279 single adults and 87 persons in 31 families – including 45 children. The occupancy rate for the shelter was approximately 90%.

Substance abuse and mental illness represent the most frequently reported circumstances for single adults. These conditions affect 33% and 44% of the population served at the shelter respectively. About half of all persons served at the shelter had zero cash income. Just over 10% of shelter guests were employed, and about a dozen households received full public assistance benefits.

Twenty-seven percent of guests in the shelter stayed on the streets or in another shelter the night before seeking shelter with us.  Sixty percent came from another temporary circumstance such as doubling-up with family or friends, discharge from a hospital or treatment facility, or released from prison.  Less than 15% of the folks who stayed at Joseph's House had come directly from a stable source of housing.

According to the Stewart B. McKinney Act, 42 U.S.C. § 11301, et seq. (1994), a person is considered homeless who "lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence; and... has a primary night time residency that is: (A) a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations... (B) an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized, or (C) a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings." The term “homeless individual” does not include any individual imprisoned or otherwise detained pursuant to an Act of Congress or a state law." 42 U.S.C. § 11302(c)

Many people call or write the National Coalition for the Homeless to ask about the number of homeless people in the United States. There is no easy answer to this question and, in fact, the question itself is misleading. In most cases, homelessness is a temporary circumstance -- not a permanent condition. A more appropriate measure of the magnitude of homelessness is the number of people who experience homelessness over time, not the number of "homeless people."

Two trends are largely responsible for the rise in homelessness over the past 20-25 years: a growing shortage of affordable rental housing and a simultaneous increase in poverty.