Homelessness rises among Bexar County children

• And although rent growth has cooled, costs are still higher than before Covid-19, burdening tenants.

How it works: Close to Home, a nonprofit that provides funding and data to address homelessness in Bexar County, leads the annual point-in-time count.

• The tally is a snapshot of how many people are experiencing homelessness, both sheltered and unsheltered, on a given night. It took place Jan. 23 this year.
• The count, which is required by the federal government, helps determine how much federal funding local agencies receive to address homelessness.

Caveat: Some say point-in-time counts may underestimate the true number of people experiencing homelessness.

What they're saying: The increase in the overall population of people who are unhoused is on par with prior years and with the county's population growth, Katie Wilson, executive director of Close to Home, tells Axios.

• But the continued climb in unhoused children and families fates needs to be a future focus area, she says.
• "Really, the driving factor is housing costs," Wilson says. "Especially our family households who have expensive rents because they have two or three bedrooms."

By the numbers: The count of sheltered families with children who were unhoused increased 11%, to 282 families.

• Children ages 17 and under account for 18.2% of the total homeless population in Bexar County — the fastest-growing group.
• The overall number of people experiencing homelessness rose 6.8% from last year, to a total of 3,398 people counted.
• The number of people experiencing homelessness who were sheltered rose 8.8%, while the number of people unsheltered (such as living on the street) rose 1.6%.

Stunning stat: This year saw an 18% decrease in unsheltered veterans, the largest decrease since 2016, and a 42% decrease in veterans who were chronically homeless, per Close to Home.

• "They have a variety of resources your general population doesn't have," Wilson says of veterans.

Context: The number of people who were sheltered rose as emergency bed capacity grew by more than 10% across the county since the last count, per Close to Home.

• SAMMinistries last fall moved from a 45-bed shelter to one with 200 rooms.
• More than 73% of Bexar County's unhoused population was sheltered — above last year's national figure of about 60%.

State of play: Wilson says efforts to increase housing with on-site support services for people who have been chronically unhoused, part of the city's 2022 affordable housing bond, should continue.

• One such housing development, Towne Twin Village, began accepting residents last year on the East Side.
• Another, with more than 200 apartments, is in the works on the South Side.

What's next: Homelessness service providers like Haven for Hope are ramping up engagement with landlords to encourage them to rent to people who have experienced being unhoused — whether they have a prior eviction history or use a housing voucher.

The bottom line: "There aren't really immediate solutions for homelessness," Wilson says. "You have to develop the right housing options."