Figure 3: Mean age of CARES clients (July 2017 – March 2024) (source: HELP USA client age dashboard)
Figure 4: Mean age of AWARDS clients (July 2017 – March 2024) (source: HELP USA client age dashboard)
Analysis by HELP Research found that our shelter clients trended slightly “younger” over the previous seven years. The average client age declined from 30.78 to 29.14 years from July ’17 to March ’24.
This brief explores three factors associated with this trend. First, the ‘younger’ profile over the study period was not linear due to Covid-19 effects. Among DHS New York City shelters , clients were older (mean ages spiked) in March 2020 and remained higher than the trend average until May 2022, when the city began to relax many pandemic protocols. Mean ages for clients in Las Vegas and “non-DHS” New York area shelters were significantly higher between March ’20 to Aug’ 20 but began increasing in August 2019.
Second, DHS clients trended younger throughout the study period because women (in assessment and family sites) and children became “younger” over this period. Unlike adults, particularly single adult men, children started becoming “younger” during the Covid-19 pandemic (particularly from March ’20 to July ’21).
Third, more than 90% of “non-DHS” subpopulations s became “younger” during the study period, including women and children in family sites, veterans, and adults in emergency and domestic violence shelters.
