Durham City and County CoC
Coordinated Entry Evaluation Report, 2025
Who came through the front door in FY24 and FY25, how long they stayed, where they went when they left, and what the numbers say needs attention.
Download the PDFThis evaluation compares two fiscal years across the entry points, street outreach, emergency shelter, rapid rehousing, and permanent supportive housing. It is a self-assessment, and several of its findings are uncomfortable.
Fewer people came through
Total persons served fell by 315 between FY24 and FY25 — 146 fewer adults and 169 fewer children. The report does not claim to know why, and names three possibilities worth separating: fewer people seeking services, less trust that the system can help, and more households arriving with higher barriers. Veterans served fell from 131 to 111 and people experiencing domestic violence from 385 to 340, while the number of chronically homeless people served rose.
People stayed longer
Average length of participation rose for stayers across every entry point. Emergency shelter stayers went from 63 days to 119; entry point stayers from 20 to 28. The street outreach figure of 776 days is an artifact, not a trend — the project transitioned between providers on June 30, 2025, and two long-term neighbors remained enrolled after everyone else had been exited.
Where people went
Exits from emergency shelter to places not meant for human habitation rose from 189 to 310. Exits to permanent situations rose at entry points (723 to 834) and fell for street outreach and emergency shelter. Exits to temporary situations dropped sharply across all three. Meanwhile, incomplete exit interviews rose across the board, which limits how much confidence any of these destination numbers can carry.
Subsidies
Housing choice vouchers at exit fell steeply — from 32 to 7 at entry points and 13 to 5 in emergency shelter — while entry point rapid rehousing subsidies rose from 12 to 58. The report flags the overall decline in housing subsidies as concerning and points to ongoing Rental Assistance Demonstration conversions as a possible cause. A separate 149 households receiving VASH are prioritized through the Durham VA and fall outside this count; that waitlist is currently closed.
What the report asks for
- A detailed analysis of why the number of people served dropped
- Investigation of the rise in shelter exits to places not meant for human habitation
- Measures to raise the exit interview completion rate, so destination data can be trusted
- Stronger collaboration with the Durham Housing Authority on subsidy supply and prioritization
- Better retention through case management and aftercare, including greater use of housing plans
The published version omits two tables that the source document marks for Durham CoC stakeholders only. Those tables carry aggregate counts by race and ethnicity and were not prepared for external distribution; the report itself states they do not accompany the version submitted with the State ESG application. Everything else is as issued.