Colorado Homeless

On Monday night, August 28, 2009, there were an estimated 29,203 homeless men, women, and children in Colorado.2
On the evening of August 28, 2009, the Colorado Interagency Council on Homelessness (CICH), along
with hundreds of volunteers from Colorado counties, conducted a “point-in-time” study of homeless
persons in Colorado, the first such study in over fifteen years. CICH defines homelessness as follows:
An individual is considered homeless if he or she is:
• Sleeping in places not meant for human habitation, such as cars, parks, sidewalks, or
abandoned or condemned buildings;
• Sleeping in an emergency shelter;
• Spending a short time (30 consecutive days or less) in a hospital or other institution, but
ordinarily sleeping in the types of places mentioned above;
• Living in transitional/supportive housing but having come from streets or emergency shelters;
• Staying temporarily with family or friends while looking for a permanent place to live;
• Staying temporarily in a hotel/motel paid for by others/vouchers and/or while looking for
shelter or housing;
• Being evicted within a week from a private dwelling unit and having no subsequent residence
identified and lacking the resources and support networks needed to obtain access to
housing; or
• Being discharged from an institution and having no subsequent residence identified and
lacking the resources and support networks needed to obtain access to housing.
Homelessness is a traumatic and terrifying experience. Many families are unable to stay together;
homeless persons often have serious health problems directly related to their lack of housing; and
children suffer long-term effects on their physical and emotional health including diminished educational
performance and difficulties in school.
Homelessness not only affects the very poor, but also working and middle class individuals and families.

Americans are homeless primarily because they cannot pay for housing and are increasingly unable to
1 Thank you, Randle (Randle Loeb).
2 Agencies from across the state submitted estimates of unsheltered homeless persons, that is, unsheltered
individuals and families who were known to be homeless but were in locations where they could not be counted.
These estimates identify a total 2,218 homeless persons. Combined with all the surveyed homeless, the domestic
violence aggregate data and the number of unsheltered homeless who were counted but not surveyed, an estimated
17,421 people were homeless on August 28, 2009.
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It is impossible to know the precise number of people who are homeless. In the words of a formerly
homeless person, now a tireless homeless advocate, “If there is more than one who does not wish to be
out in the wilderness or stuck in a shelter, and we can change this equation, then the number is too great
a burden on our consciousness.

ESTIMATING THE TOTAL NUMBER OF HOMELESS PERSONS IN COLORADO
There is considerable literature on methods for estimating the total number of homeless persons from
point-in-time data. Some of these studies have used extremely complicated and sophisticated
methodologies to estimate the total number of homeless. The survey questions and the overall
methodology for this study were the consequence of a number of considerations. These primary factors
included the following:
• To the extent possible, collect data consistent with previous local point-in-time surveys for
comparison purposes.
• Limit the survey to a one, two-sided page in order to facilitate survey distribution and
administration, and eliminate the possibility that any pages of a survey could be lost.
• Use an extensive system of trained agency staff and volunteers to collect data to make the
experience comfortable for homeless persons and to keep the cost of the survey.