Announcing a 47% Reduction in Homelessness
Your Way Home is excited to announce a reduction in homelessness by 47% since its inception in 2014, as measured by the annual Point-In-Time Count.
Over the past five years, Your Way Home has transformed the homeless crisis response system in Montgomery County by more effectively diverting, triaging and re-housing literally homeless residents. During this time, Your Way Home has focused on creating a coordinated and unified homeless crisis response system that connects homeless households to permanent housing as quickly as possible. More recently, Your Way Home has piloted new programs that provide homelessness prevention services to households facing eviction and doubled-up families.
Your Way Home’s success in reducing homelessness demonstrates the impact of what we can achieve when nonprofits, government, philanthropy and the community work together towards a shared vision. Our initiative is successful because of the collective work that all of our partners have done to more effectively respond to the crisis of homelessness, which is why we have been able to rehouse over 864 homeless households since 2014.
As Your Way Home continues to prioritize its commitment to ending literal homelessness, we recognize that we must also develop solutions that will help prevent more families and individuals from losing their housing. We acknowledge that while our data shows a sizable reduction in homelessness, the Point-In-Time Count itself does not reflect the full picture of homelessness in Montgomery County- it is a snapshot of what homelessness looks like on one day in time, for those who are literally sleeping outside or in shelters.
The Point-In-Time Count (PIT) assists us in creating dialogue around homelessness in real time and with real data. It establishes the magnitude of the problem of literal homelessness and helps us track progress toward our goal. What the PIT does not quantify are those experiencing extreme housing instability: those couch- surfing or doubled- up in housing, those living in substandard housing, or households paying over half their income towards rent. The PIT does not give an accurate picture of the affordable housing crisis in Montgomery County, nor does it reflect the urgent needs of those who are housing insecure.
However, the PIT does tell us that we are on the right track towards achieving our goal. We have made a sizable reduction in homelessness in Montgomery County over the past five years. We have not yet reached our goal of ending homelessness but we are proud of where we are today. We continue to build on this strategic framework and embrace strategies that make Your Way Home a more equitable system.