Homelessness in Weber County isn’t going away.

While some figures indicate forward movement in efforts to help the unsheltered, other numbers released in an annual report prepared by the Utah Office of Homeless Services suggest backsliding in the county. In releasing the report last Thursday, a state official noted the unstable housing situation in the state as well as the decline in available federal funding for housing as the COVID-19 pandemic has eased.

“Housing instability is a significant issue, leading to homelessness and an increased demand for crisis response services,” said Tricia Davis, the assistant director of Utah’s Office of Homeless Services. “As pandemic-era funding resources are ending and the cost of living continues to rise, service providers are experiencing an increased demand in services as shown in the 2023 Annual Data Report.”

The Office of Homeless Services is part of the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

At the same time, Wayne Niederhauser, Utah’s homelessness coordinator, noted funding provided by state lawmakers aimed at bolstering the availability of affordable housing, a positive in tackling the issue. Some $55 million in grant money, he said, has funded 17 projects in Utah that will lead to creation of 1,100 housing units for those in need.

The homelessness figures in the report for Weber County aren’t accompanied by much explanation, but they show the issue persists, with some successes and some backsliding. At the same time, the figures show the homelessness issue is much more pronounced in Weber County than in neighboring Davis County.

Here are some takeaways:

Length of homelessness: On the bright side, the average length of homelessness in Weber County as gauged by days spent in emergency shelters or transitional housing has fallen. For federal fiscal year 2022, the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2022, the average number of days the homeless spent in transitional housing or emergency shelters — dubbed “homeless days” — totaled 45.94. That’s down from from 59.66 for 2021.

In Davis County, the average length of homelessness in 2022 was 9.25 days, down from 10.26 days in 2021. Davis County offers emergency shelter, but not transitional housing.

Returning to homelessness: Declining stints in shelters or transitional housing notwithstanding, a higher percentage of people who exit homelessness in Weber County are unfortunately finding themselves once again without permanent shelter.

For 2022, 49.53% of people who experienced homelessness in the prior two years but then found housing subsequently returned to homelessness, the figures show. That’s up from the figure of 37.19% who backslid as of 2021 and the 25.97% figure for 2018.

In Davis County for 2022, just 6.67% of the homeless over the past two years who then found housing subsequently returned to homelessness, down from 7.38% in 2021 and 15.6% in 2018.

Sheltered homeless: More homeless than ever in Weber County received shelter in 2022 going back to 2018, which could indicate an increase in the homeless or better outreach to get help for them.

In 2022, the total number of homeless people who received shelter reached 2,417, up from 1,877 in 2021 and 2,311 in 2018. Of the 2,417 who received shelter last year, the vast majority — 2,380 — received help in emergency shelters.

In Davis County, the number of homeless getting help totaled just 55 for 2022, down from 72 in 2021 and up from 3 in 2020.

Homeless for the first time: The number of people experiencing homelessness for the first time in 2022 in Weber County totaled 1,579, up from 1,085 in 2021 and 1,401 in 2018. The homeless figure for 2022 for those who had experienced homelessness previously and received assistance totaled 1,088, up from 897 cases in 2021.

In Davis County, 167 people experienced homelessness for the first time in 2022, down from 273 in 2021, but up from 135 in 2018. The total experiencing homelessness in 2022 who had before lacked shelter totaled 61 in 2022, down from 58 in 2021.

Point-in-time count: Each year, volunteers fan out across Utah to count the homeless on a single day to get a gauge of the issue statewide. In Weber County, 353 homeless homeless individuals were counted in 2023, including 277 sheltered and 76 unsheltered people. That’s up slightly from 349 in 2022 but down from 372 in 2021.

In Davis County, 79 homeless were counted in the 2023 point-in-time count, up from 55 in 2022 and 57 in 2021.

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