Boston

Size and Scope of Homelessness

No research methodology has been able to accurately enumerate the homeless population. Estimating the size of this population in the United States and in any particular city has been a contentious problem, hampered by the geographic and temporal transience of homeless persons, as well as daunting logistical difficulties with sampling techniques. Nationally, numbers have ranged from 250,000 to 3 million homeless (Burt and Cohen 1989; Kuhn and [Page 30]Culhane 1998) on any specific night; some estimate that 13.5 million Americans have experienced “literal” homelessness at some period in their lifetimes (Hoombs and Snyder 1982; Link et al. 1994).

The City of Boston believes that accurate numbers are critical to a comprehensive approach to ending homelessness. Services can be better coordinated, and homeless persons can be moved beyond shelter when providers and policymakers have an integrated approach that includes street outreach, emergency shelter with food and clothing, accessible health care, transitional programs for those suffering from mental health and substance abuse issues, and most importantly, the creation and maintenance of affordable and safe housing.

While there are no comprehensive, exact numbers for the number of homeless persons in Boston during the entire year, the city's Emergency Shelter Commission conducts an annual single night census on the second Monday of December. The census began modestly in 1983, with a street count conducted by six volunteers over a two-week period. The census has grown considerably and now utilizes more than 250 volunteers, under the direction of the mayor, who gather at City Hall at 9:00 p.m. and then scour the city until 2:00 a.m. on a single night.

This annual census has served as a useful barometer for noting trends in Boston's homeless population and helping to guide both city and state policymakers. Boston's homeless population has grown by over 40 percent in the past decade, with a single night count increasing from 4,441 in 1992 to 6,210 in 2002. The number of homeless children showed the most dramatic growth, increasing over 70 percent in ten years, from 800 to 1,367. The number of women grew by almost 60 percent during the decade, from 989 in 1992 to 1,572 in 2002. While the number has risen only 25 percent in the past decade, homeless men remain the largest subgroup of Boston's homeless population. The 3,271 homeless men in the 2002 census comprised 53 percent of the total homeless population (Emergency Shelter Commission 2002).

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