New Hampshire saw a rise in the number of people experiencing homelessness in 2022, according to the latest report from the nonprofit NH Coalition to End Homelessness.
The report also found more people are experiencing chronic or unsheltered homelessness, making them more vulnerable to various health and safety risks.
Jennifer Chisholm is the executive director of NH Coalition to End Homelessness. She joined NHPR’s All Things Considered Host Julia Furukawa to talk about this increase and what’s driving homelessness in the state.
Transcript
New Hampshire has seen one of the largest increases in homelessness nationwide. Why is that?
New Hampshire has been experiencing a housing crisis for many years actually, since before pre-COVID, but it's just worsened over time.
And so New Hampshire right now is at a 0.5% [vacancy rate]. So [that’s] one-tenth of what a healthy vacancy rate should be, which means that it's very difficult, even for people who have the means, to be able to find an apartment [or] a rental unit.
Sounds like housing is the crux of this, but are there other factors that play into this increase in homelessness that we're seeing here in New Hampshire?
I think that the things that we also want to take a look at are those precipitating factors. So there's the economic piece, but then there's also things like mental health and substance use disorder. So we want to make sure that we're providing adequate resources and an adequate kind of spectrum of care in order for people to be well supported.
Certainly COVID and the pandemic was a difficult hit for a lot of families. We saw actually the numbers from 2020, in the Point in Time count which was done prior to the hit of COVID, the homelessness numbers actually dipped. And we attribute at least part of that to those funds that came through to the state due to the pandemic. Then after those funds had expired, it popped right back up. And so while 100% of that effect, that dip, probably wasn't due to those [funds], we know looking to national data that other states also experienced the dip and the bump up. And we do attribute at least a decent chunk of that to those interventions that were put in place during COVID.
So it sounds like the pandemic era funds that came to states like New Hampshire made quite a difference in the lives of people experiencing homelessness here [and] in the work that you do. But what do you think that can look like in our state moving forward? Is there a model for providing funding in that manner that we could use post-pandemic?
So I think that we really need to take a look at that. I'm a big proponent of making sure that we're using our money in a way that we know is effective, and I don't know that we've had the time to really break that down.
One of the key takeaways of the report was talking about [was] how supportive policies [and] additional resources are needed. We know that affordable housing is going to be a big key in what is going to help this issue, and it's going to take time for them to be up and running. I think that we need to be taking a look at what the intermediate things that we can be doing to support people [are]. There's been a vast increase, especially since the pandemic, of homeless outreach that goes out to build relationships with people, to connect them with resources. I think that's really an important investment for us to be continuing to look at.
The other thing that I would say is that we really need sort of a public education campaign. Not only for individuals in the state, but also for municipalities, for them to understand homelessness and the factors that do play into it. Because homelessness is an issue that can touch any family— any family in New Hampshire. What some of the housing projects are seeing is NIMBY-ism, the ‘Not In My Backyard.’ And so, the more that we can talk to people to reduce fear [and] to increase understanding about the issue, then it will make development of these resources easier to literally save lives.
