Homelessness in North Carolina

Click here to see the most recent 2014 data on homelessness in North Carolina.

The article I read yesterday motivated me to look into data on homelessness in North Carolina. The interactive map below shows data from the North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness (NCCEH) January 2013 Point-in-Time (PIT) count data. The PIT count is a statewide, unduplicated count of homeless people that is held on one night during the last week of January each year.

The largest numbers of homeless individuals in North Carolina live in the urban centers, reflecting general patterns of population density: Mecklenburg (2,418), Wake (1,098), Guilford (949), and Durham (759). The highest rates of homelessness, however, occur in the western counties, with Transylvania (0.73%) and Swain (0.54%) topping the list with rates more than 5 times the statewide rate (~0.1%).

According to the NCCEH data, nearly a quarter of North Carolina’s homeless population are children and another fifteen percent are their parents. Single men make up nearly half of the homeless population (46%) while single women are 15%. Statewide, veterans comprise 9% of the homeless population.

These proportions vary dramatically among Continuum of Care regions throughout the state:

• In Northwest North Carolina, the majority of homeless persons are children (34%) and adults (34%) living in families.
• In both Charlotte/Mecklenburg County and Fayetteville/Cumberland County, children comprise 30% of the homeless population.
• The Asheville/Buncombe region has the highest proportion of veterans (39%), more than four times the statewide rate of veterans in the homeless population. The second highest veteran proportion is in Raleigh/Wake County: 18%.

The interactive graphic below shows the distribution of homeless persons by family structure and veteran status by Continuum of Care Region.