COTS by the Numbers, 2007

From Oct. 1, 2006 to Sept. 30, 2007, COTS provided the following services to low-income and homeless families and individuals:

EMERGENCY SHELTER

-- COTS FAMILY SHELTERS

89 families stayed at the Main Street or Firehouse Shelter, including 125 parents and 144 children. Nearly one-third of those families had at least one employed parent.

-- The COTS WAYSTATION

332 individuals — an average of 29 per night — stayed at COTS’ 36-bed emergency shelter. The 8-bed women’s dorm was full nearly every night. Shelter demand typically slows in the summer, but in the summer of 2007 demand for emergency shelter at COTS reached an all-time high.

-- The COTS DAYSTATION

806 individuals — an average of 49 people a day — used the Daystation, the only drop-in center for homeless adults in Chittenden County. With the help of volunteers, COTS served a noontime meal all 365 days.

SERVICES

-- COTS STREETWORK PROGRAM

Provided outreach and support to 320 single, homeless adults.

-- FAMILY SERVICES PROGRAM

Provided outreach and support to 150 homeless families, including 212 parents and 246 children, in emergency shelter

and in the community.

HOUSING PROGRAMS

-- TRANSITIONAL HOUSING (THE SMITH HOUSE)

Helped 21 low-income households avert homelessness and stay in their housing, and helped 24 low-income households pay security deposits and move into permanent, affordable housing.

The Smith House provides up to seven chronically homeless and hard-to-house individuals at a time with intensive support to overcome complex mental-health and substance-abuse issues, physical disabilities and poor credit histories, and successfully transition into affordable, permanent housing. On average, 70% of the hardest-to-house individuals move into permanent housing each year. Two Section 8 (federally subsidized) apartments are attached to the program.

-- AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Provided 40 single-room occupancy (SRO) units and four apartments — permanent housing for formerly homeless as well as poor and elderly people and veterans — at The Wilson (a former hotel) and St. John’s Hall, two other facilities owned and operated by COTS.

-- HOUSING RESOURCE PROGRAM

Helped 45 families and 55 single adults find housing, and maintained a continually updated list of affordable housing and network of 50+ landlords willing to rent to COTS clients.