Plymouth Housing Group & Shelter Plus Care data provided by Aaron Emery (Data Analyst) and Amy FitzGerald (Director of Compliance)

 

In 2014, Plymouth provided safe, quality, affordable housing to 1,169 people in downtown Seattle. Of these, 980 were formerly homeless adults living in our permanent supportive housing and 189 were single adults living in our workforce housing.

In addition, Plymouth has subcontracted with King County to administer the Shelter Plus Care program for over 20 years. Through this program, Plymouth is currently serving an additional 782 households (including single adults, couples, and families with minor children) living in more than 387 properties in cities throughout King County. 

 

Among Plymouth’s 980 supportive housing residents in 2014:

• 155 (16 percent) were new tenants.
• 93 percent had one or more disabilities.
• 62 percent had mental illness.
• 48 percent were over age 55 (with an average age of 53 years).
• 21 percent were women.
• 18 percent were veterans of military service.
• the average annual income was $7615, meaning 83 percent of our supportive housing tenants were below the Federal Poverty Guideline and 98 percent met HUD’s classification for “extremely low income” (annual incomes at or below 30 percent AMI). Last year, 11 percent of Plymouth’s supportive housing tenants had no income.

 

For Plymouth’s supportive housing tenants, 2014’s outcomes were clear and compelling.

–Average tenure was 4.7 years, up from 4.0 years in 2013 and reflecting a steady increase from 2.5 years in 2004. In fact, 34 percent of our supportive housing residents have lived at Plymouth more than five years, and 10 percent longer than 10 years.

–2014 was the second year of Plymouth’s rigorous new recovery support program, serving tenants committed to living a clean and sober life. 11 percent of our supportive housing residents were served by this program in 2014.

–In 2014, a total of 44 formerly homeless residents were in Plymouth’s “graduation” group. This rewards Plymouth tenants who have worked hard to achieve sustained success in our supportive housing after many years of homelessness and provides them with a growth path to more independent living.

–It is important to note that as a resident graduates to more independent living, his or her former Plymouth unit—with its 24-hour support services—becomes available to a new resident just leaving homelessness and in need of the intensive round-the-clock support that unit provides. If those tenants no longer compete for our community’s shelter beds, the strain on that system can be reduced. In this way, Plymouth’s housing options track serves three very different and important points along the housing continuum.

–In 2014, it cost Plymouth an average of $14,000 to provide a tenant with a permanent home and 24/7 support for a full year. In contrast, this same amount pays for only six days in Harborview or 80 days in a King County jail (two places where a person experiencing a mental health crisis while living on the streets frequently ends up). And because those are only temporary interventions, a homeless person can keep cycling from there to the streets and back again, and the annual public costs for their care can exceed $100,000 per person.