Understanding Homeless
Who are the homeless families that we serve?
- Ninety-five percent (95%) of our clients are living at or below the federal poverty level
($22,350 for a family of four in 2011) - About half are employed, the rest are looking for employment while living at the shelter.
Those employed in retail or service positions paying between $7.02 and $8.50 per hour. It
takes 2.4 wage earners at these wages to afford an average priced two-bedroom apartment in
Greeley (approx. $650/mo.) - All of our Emergency Shelter residents are drug and alcohol free (a requirement for entering
our program) - Seventy-eight percent (78%) are single-parent families and 22% are two parent families.
Increasingly, two-parent families are finding it difficult to remain in their homes. - Most of the adults are young – 62% are age 18 to 30, and 78% are Hispanic
- The majority of clients served come from Greeley/Evans (90%) and surrounding Weld County
communities (7%). About 3% of our clients come from other parts of Colorado (primarily
metro Denver) or from out of state. - The average length of stay for our families is about 55 days, and about 80-85% of them find
housing and employment before they leave our program.
GETTING HELP
