For some Wyoming residents, the “roughing it” style of frontier life has become too much of a reality. If Wyoming has escaped the highly-visible homelessness seen in many American cities, we don’t have to dig deep to discover our state’s own homeless in our cities, towns and rural areas. As does every state in the union, Wyoming has people with no place to live, families struggling to stay together under one roof, and parents trying to find safe places to raise their children. Moving into the 21st century, Wyoming needs to act on a 19th century frontier credo: the demands of this tough state mean that we all have to look out for each other. Wyoming’s homeless need someone to look out for them.

In October, 2003 an interim Wyoming Interagency Council on Homelessness came together: a broad range of government and non-profit agencies wanting to play a role in helping the state’s homeless population. The Council determined that its first step would be to learn about the homeless in Wyoming. The Council wanted to know, not just the numbers of homeless in Wyoming, but the situations behind the numbers. Specifically, information was needed on what factors contributed to making people homeless; what services these people use and what services they need. The Council was seeking to fulfill its commitment to look out for fellow Wyomingites who’d fallen on tough times.

To learn about homelessness in Wyoming, the Council commissioned a survey of the homeless in the state. In October of 2004, researchers visited key organizations across the state providing services to the homeless population. From this survey came insights into Wyoming’s homeless population: who they are, what brought them to the situation of being without a home, and how Wyoming’s homeless population compares with the country as a whole. Armed with this information, the Council can begin to craft services to meet needs, in the most effective ways possible.

This report strives to put the human face on our homeless neighbors, to learn more about their lives. The Council, after studying the results of the survey and what those results mean, drew conclusions from them. Finally, the report presents the recommendations of the Wyoming Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Download a copy of this Survey Report (PDF)