Mayor Dave Cieslewicz announced the overall estimate of homeless individuals in Dane County has dropped two-thirds since 2000 after the release of the 2004 Annual Report on the Homelessness Served in Dane County Wednesday.

“We’re very encouraged by those trends,” Cieslewicz said, adding although the trends are promising, he and other agencies serving the homeless are not completely satisfied.

According to the report, the total number of homeless persons in the greater Madison area has fluctuated from 7,700 persons in 2002 to more than 11,000 persons in 2003 and then dropping to approximately 5,000 persons last year.

The number is determined by adding the total number of individuals turned away from homeless shelters to the number of individuals receiving shelter, according to the Community Development Block Grant Office grants administrator Sue Wallinger.

Adam Smith, development director of Porchlight, Inc., a company providing shelter, job skills and help to find permanent housing for the homeless, said although there is a significant decline in homelessness throughout Dane County, “pin-pointing” the reason for the trend is difficult.

One possible cause of the decline in homelessness is the greater emphasis on prevention services throughout Dane County such as the Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin, Smith said, which offers a variety of programs providing financial aid, food and job resources to those in need.

“The work that is being done by the agencies has made a tremendous difference,” Smith said.

Porchlight Inc.’s eviction prevention program has served more than 5,000 people in Dane County, who otherwise may have had to enter emergency shelters for housing, Smith added.

Cieslewicz said the city’s strategy is to treat the “root causes” of homelessness. Many homeless individuals have the opportunity to treat their issues while in a shelter and will then be able to hold on to permanent housing “in the long run,” he added.

Discussions of homelessness in the city often focus only on emergency shelters, but there are many prevention efforts within the city to solve the overall problem instead of just focusing on finding a bed for an individual for one night, Cieslewicz said.

Smith said homeless individuals who are in shelters have issues that may be difficult to help, ranging from health care and childcare to alcoholism and drug addictions.

“We still have a long way to go,” Smith said.

Last year, there were 865 children in shelters, a number that has steadily declined from almost 2,900 children in 1996. The number of single women in shelters has remained steady since 1996 at an average of 450 women seeking shelter per year.

According to Smith, any significant changes in funding for homeless providers and agencies could reverse the promising statistics.

Cieslewicz said the annual Community Development Block Grant, a federal program offering assistance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, helps the city fight against poverty and homelessness.

Under President Bush the CDBG has been cut back and combined with other programs, according to Cieslewicz. “Poor” cities are emphasized, he added, and although the city does not seem to be poor, there are “pockets of poverty” within the city.

“CDBG has been a tremendous asset to Madison,” Cieslewicz said. “Under Bush’s proposal it is not clear if the city of Madison would receive any money.”