A Demographic Examination of Access Into Supportive Housing by Persons Who Are Mentally Ill and Homeless in Merced County

In Merced County, significant overrepresentation of African American, White, and Native American individuals, along with underrepresentation of Hispanic and\ud Asian/Pacific Islander individuals, exist among those who are mentally ill and\ud homeless. Full Service Partnerships (FSPs) provide supportive housing for this\ud population. The purpose of this study was to examine the demographic makeup of\ud those in the care of FSPs in order to determine their response to the street population.\ud The study used existing data regarding those who received supportive housing.\ud Frequency counts and Pearson Chi-square tests were conducted to determine if there\ud were significant disparities among the samples. The results revealed significant\ud disparities between all categories of gender, ethnicity and age in the point-in-time\ud data (PITs) and the FSPs. Results also revealed differences between the PITs and\ud FSPs, with one exception being in the gender category of the FSPs. Though the FSPs\ud do not appear statistically to be responding to the PITs, further interpretation of\ud frequency changes year-over-year find that they are responding positively in all\ud categories. Continued annual demographic examinations of the homeless populations\ud and the FSPs should continue to determine progress in reducing disparities