COLUMBUS — Columbus is scaling back its temporary shelter program for people experiencing homelessness, cutting bed capacity and trimming spending by roughly $4 million as officials shift the strategy toward moving people into stable housing.
The city’s Department of Development is working with Franklin County officials under a joint plan known as CARLTON — the Community Action and Response to Living Transitional or Outdoors Now strategy — which runs through March 2027. The temporary shelter component covers extra bed capacity at local shelters and hotel and motel rooms used for people who cannot be placed elsewhere.
Under the scale-down, temporary shelter beds have fallen from 383 to 208. Quarterly spending has dropped with them: the city spent about $3.4 million on the program in the most recent quarter, down from roughly $5.2 million in the prior fourth quarter. The cost works out to nearly $6,300 per person served.
The reductions come even as need remains high. The region’s point-in-time count in January found 2,767 people experiencing homelessness in the Columbus area, up about 5.5% from the year before.
City and county officials say the goal is not simply to spend less, but to move people out of temporary arrangements and into permanent housing faster. NewsForce247 will follow the CARLTON benchmarks as the strategy plays out over the coming quarters.