Section 12.3.2

12.3.2 - Most Frequent Reasons the Program Turned Away Clients

Agencies were asked if clients had been turned away within the past year and, if so, how many and for what reasons. Agencies were asked to use either their records or their best estimates to supply this information. Tables 12.3.1 and 12.3.2 show the results.

Table 12.3.2

MOST FREQUENT REASONS THE PROGRAM TURNED AWAY CLIENTS

	Pantry Programs	Kitchen Programs	Shelter Programs
Most frequent reason
Lack of food or resources	20.1%	29.7%	13.7%
Services needed not provided by the program	6.5%	5.7%	15.0%
Clients were ineligible or could not prove eligibility	11.8%	7.6%	12.5%
Clients abused program/came too often	24.4%	2.5%	3.8%
Clients exhibited drug, alcohol, or behavior problem	4.6%	42.7%	20.9%
Clients lived outside service area	18.1%	1.7%	1.5%
Clients had no proper identification	5.2%	1.9%	0.6%
Client's income exceeded the guidelines	4.9%	0.7%	0.2%
Other	4.3%	7.6%	31.8%
TOTAL	100%	100%	100%
Second most frequent reason
Lack of food or resources	6.7%	15.4%	4.9%
Services needed not provided by the program	12.7%	13.0%	22.6%
Clients were ineligible or could not prove eligibility	15.0%	8.6%	12.7%
Clients abused program/came too often	18.8%	13.5%	13.0%
Clients exhibited drug, alcohol, or behavior problem	8.5%	34.2%	29.6%
Clients lived outside service area	16.5%	4.7%	3.6%
Clients had no proper identification	12.5%	5.8%	4.0%
Client's income exceeded the guidelines	6.5%	0.5%	1.6%
Other	2.8%	4.3%	8.2%
TOTAL	100%	100%	100%
SAMPLE SIZE (N) - Programs that turned away clients	3,787	366	1,069

Source
This table was constructed based on usable responses to Question 10a of the agency survey.

Notes
The percentages presented in this table are based only on usable responses, excluding missing, don't know, and refusal responses. All usable responses were weighted as described in Chapter 3 and in the Technical Appendix volume to represent all emergency food programs of the A2H network. The sample sizes (N) also include missing data.

For most frequent reason, missing, don't know, and refusal responses combined are 7.6% for pantry programs, 14.7% for kitchen programs, and 8.2% for shelter programs.

For second most frequent reason, missing, don't know, and refusal responses combined are 28.6% for pantry programs, 54.5% for kitchen programs, and 28.1% for shelter programs.