Missouri's homeless population rose 67 percent between 2007 and 2012, and now stands at 1,582, according to a study by the Governor's Committee to End Homelessness.
The 2014 winter Point-in-Time Sheltered and Unsheltered Homeless Count is prepared by the Missouri Housing Development Commission and the Missouri Association of Social Welfare (MASW). The information is gathered by social service agencies and community volunteers from the 101 counties in the Missouri Balance of State Continuum of Care.
The Statewide Homeless Study of 2013 suggests the residual effects of the 2011 Joplin tornado and a weak economy are two of the many contributing factors for the increase.
Conducted by the University of Missouri of St. Louis, the study also notes that school districts' data for homeless students are significantly higher than the Point-in-Time Count, and Missouri's homeless rate of 17 homeless people per 10,000 state residents is below the national average of 20.
"Many people have a restricted idea of homeless," said Dawn Berhorst, assistant to the superintendent for Jefferson City Public Schools. "The definition is broader than what many people think.
"We use the federal definition of homeless. It is anyone who lacks a fixed, regular and adequate night-time residence, or that have lost their housing due to economic hardships or similar reasons."
The survey divides the state into 10 regions, each encompassing multiple counties. Cole County and 15 other counties are in region five, one of the larger regions. The following data was taken from the January 2014 survey, the most recent available.
The homeless are classified in two ways, unsheltered and sheltered. An unsheltered homeless individual lacks an adequate nighttime residence, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This means they sleep in a place not designed for sleeping, such as a car, park, abandoned building, airport, camping ground, bus or train station.
The majority of the unsheltered are white males over 25 with either some form of mental illness or substance abuse.
Within the region, there are 63 unsheltered homeless individuals, including six in Cole County. While the regional demographics reflect the state's, just as many homeless individuals reported they had a physical illness as a mental illness.
Within region five there are 430 sheltered homeless individuals, according to the count. More than 60 percent are white males older than 25. More than 18 percent reported having mental illness and 31 percent reported some form of substance abuse. Cole County has 74 of the sheltered homeless.
Also the count found 44 doubled-up homeless individuals in the county.
"They are sharing a house with other persons," Berhorst said. "They are not considered a fixed residence because they can be asked at any time to leave. That sharing concept due to loss of housing is a definition (of homelessness) that is used by the federal government."
When looking at the counts from 2007 to 2014, the two largest growing trends were the growth of unsheltered homeless individuals and the growth of the number of homeless people in families. Between 2007 and 2012, the number of unsheltered homeless in the state doubled and the number of homeless families increased by 89 percent.
The number of unsheltered homeless tends to fluctuate between the summer and winter counts because some state shelters are seasonal. For example in the summer of 2012, the count was 789, and the following count for the winter of 2013 was 558. The count rose to 625 that summer and dropped again in the winter of 2014 to 243.
The sheltered data, coordinated by MASW, is gathered from social service agencies and organizations providing shelter, such as the Salvation Army or the Rape and Abuse Crisis Service.
"Most of the homeless population here at Jefferson City has been at the Salvation Army at some point," said Tyreka Brandon, Center of Hope homeless shelter manager for the Salvation Army. "Many of those who are here are suffering from any type of addiction, but the biggest problem is mental illness. I would say probably 45 to 50 percent suffer from a severe mental illness."
The Center of Hope partners with organizations like New Horizons and Pathways Community Health to provide needed services to he mentally ill, Brandon said.
"The DMH (Department of Mental Health) provides services to homeless individuals with mental illness," wrote spokeswoman Debra Walker in response to emailed questions. "The community mental health centers contracted with the DMH to provide outreach, treatment, community support and housing services. DMH has a limited amount of funding for housing.
"Poverty is a problem in America and finding safe affordable places to live can be a challenge."
There are 1,339 sheltered homeless individuals in the state. The majority are white and older than 25. The gender demographics are closer in the sheltered population than the unsheltered with close to 52 percent male and 48 percent female. Also, 13 percent of the sheltered homeless report having a mental illness and 26 percent report some form of substance abuse. Nearly 29 percent reported that they were victims of domestic violence.
There are no homeless transgender individuals in the state, according to the count. However, approximately 3 percent of the unsheltered population are identified as an unknown gender.