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October 14, 2014<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/14/10-facts-about-being-homeless-in-the-usa/">http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/14/10-facts-about-being-homeless-in-the-usa/</a><br>
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<div class="subheadlinestyle"><big><big><b>As the Crisis Deepens,
the Government is Doing Less to Help</b></big></big></div>
<h1 class="article-title">10 Facts About Being Homeless in the USA</h1>
<div class="mainauthorstyle">by BILL QUIGLEY</div>
<div class="main-text">
<p>Three True Stories</p>
<p>Renee Delisle was one of over 3500 homeless people in Santa
Cruz when she found out she was pregnant. <a
href="http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_24374949/santa-cruz-county-homelessness-skyrockets-28-percent"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.santacruzsentinel.com']);">The
Santa Cruz Sentinel</a> reported she was turned away from a
shelter because they did not have space for her. While other
homeless people slept in cars or under culverts, Renee ended up
living in an abandoned elevator shaft until her water broke.</p>
<p>Jerome Murdough, 56, a homeless former Marine, was arrested for
trespass in New York because he was found sleeping in a public
housing stairwell on a cold night. <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/13/nyregion/rikers-death-is-ruled-an-accident.html?_r=0"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.nytimes.com']);">The
New York Times</a> reported that one week later, Jerome died
of hypothermia in a jail cell heated to over 100 degrees.</p>
<p>Paula Corb and her two daughters lost their home and have lived
in their minivan for four years. They did laundry in a church
annex, went to the bathroom at gas stations, and did their
studies under street lamps, according to <a
href="http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2014/10/10/mobile-homes-manyhiddenhomelessamericanslivinginvehicles.htm"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://america.aljazeera.com']);">America
Tonight</a>.</p>
<p><em>Fact One. Over half a million people are homeless</em></p>
<p>On any given night, there are over 600,000 homeless people in
the US <a
href="https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/ahar-2013-part1.pdf"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','download','http://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/ahar-2013-part1.pdf']);">according
to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)</a>.
Most people are either spending the night in homeless shelters
or in some sort of short term transitional housing. Slightly
more than a third are living in cars, under bridges or in some
other way living unsheltered.</p>
<p><em>Fact Two. One quarter of homeless people are children</em></p>
<p>HUD reports that on any given night <a
href="https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/ahar-2013-part1.pdf"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','download','http://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/ahar-2013-part1.pdf']);">over
138,000 of the homeless in the US are children</a> under the
age of 18. Thousands of these homeless children are
unaccompanied according to HUD. Another federal program, No
Child Left Behind, <a
href="http://center.serve.org/nche/downloads/briefs/det_elig.pdf"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','download','http://center.serve.org/nche/downloads/briefs/det_elig.pdf']);">defines
homeless children more broadly</a> and includes not just those
living in shelters or transitional housing but also those who
are sharing the housing of other persons due to economic
hardship, living in cars, parks, bus or train stations, or
awaiting foster care placement. Under this definition, the
National Center for Homeless Education reported in September
2014 that local school districts reported there are <a
href="http://center.serve.org/nche/downloads/data-comp-1011-1213.pdf"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','download','http://center.serve.org/nche/downloads/data-comp-1011-1213.pdf']);">over
one million homeless children in public schools</a>.</p>
<p><em>Fact Three. Tens of thousands of veterans are homeless</em></p>
<p>Over <a
href="https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/ahar-2013-part1.pdf"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','download','http://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/ahar-2013-part1.pdf']);">57,000
veterans are homeless</a> each night. Sixty percent of them
were in shelters, the rest unsheltered. Nearly 5000 are female.</p>
<p><em>Fact Four. Domestic violence is a leading cause of
homelessness in women</em></p>
<p>More than <a
href="http://nlchp.org/documents/UPR_Housing_Report_2014"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://nlchp.org']);">90%
of homeless women are victims of severe physical or sexual
abuse</a> and escaping that abuse is a leading cause of their
homelessness.</p>
<p><em>Fact Five. Many people are homeless because they cannot
afford rent</em></p>
<p>The <a
href="http://nlchp.org/documents/UPR_Housing_Report_2014"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://nlchp.org']);">lack
of affordable housing is a primary cause of homelessness</a>
according to the National Law Center on Homelessness and
Poverty. HUD has seen its budget slashed by over 50% in recent
decades resulting in the loss of 10,000 units of subsidized low
income housing each and every year.</p>
<p><em>Fact Six. There are fewer places for poor people to rent
than before</em></p>
<p><a href="http://nlchp.org/documents/No_Safe_Place"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://nlchp.org']);">One
eighth of the nation’s supply of low income housing has been
permanently lost</a> since 2001. The US needs at <a
href="http://nlchp.org/documents/UPR_Housing_Report_2014"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://nlchp.org']);">least
7 million more affordable apartments</a> for low income
families and as a result millions of families spend more than
half their monthly income on rent.</p>
<p><em>Fact Seven. In the last few years millions have lost their
homes</em></p>
<p><a
href="http://www.corelogic.com/about-us/news/corelogic-reports-47,000-completed-foreclosures-in-may.aspx"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.corelogic.com']);">Over
five million homes have been foreclosed</a> on since 2008, one
out of every ten homes with a mortgage. This has caused even
more people to search for affordable rental property.</p>
<p><em>Fact Eight. The Government does not help as much as you
think</em></p>
<p>There is enough <a
href="http://nlchp.org/documents/UPR_Housing_Report_2014"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://nlchp.org']);">public
rental assistance to help about one out of every four
extremely low income</a> households. Those who do not receive
help are on multi-year waiting lists. For example, Charlotte
just <a
href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/09/26/5202181/section-8-wait-list-will-likely.html#.VDvyBPldWSo"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.charlotteobserver.com']);">opened
up their applications for public housing assistance for the
first time in 14 years and over 10,000 people applied.</a></p>
<p><em>Fact Nine. One in five homeless people suffer from
untreated severe mental illness</em></p>
<p>While about 6% of the general population suffers from severe
mental illness, <a
href="http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/Mental_Illness.pdf"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','download','http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/Mental_Illness.pdf']);">20
to 25% of the homeless suffer from severe mental illness</a>
according to government studies. Half of this population
self-medicate and are at further risk of addiction and poor
physical health. A <a
href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/news/housing-homeless-mentally-ill-pays-itself-according-university-pennsylvania"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.upenn.edu']);">University
of Pennsylvania study tracking nearly 5000 homeless people for
two years</a> discovered that investing in comprehensive
health support and treatment of physical and mental illnesses is
less costly than incarceration, shelter and hospital services
for the untreated homeless.</p>
<p><em>Fact Ten. Cities are increasingly making homelessness a
crime</em></p>
<p>A <a href="http://nlchp.org/documents/No_Safe_Place"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://nlchp.org']);">2014
survey of 187 cities by the National Law Center on
Homelessness & Poverty</a> found: 24% make it a city-wide
crime to beg in public; 33% make it illegal to stand around or
loiter anyplace in the city; 18% make it a crime to sleep
anywhere in public; 43% make it illegal to sleep in your car;
and 53% make it illegal to sit or lay down in particular public
places. And the number of cities criminalizing homelessness is
steadily increasing.</p>
<p>For more information look to the <a
href="http://www.nlchp.org/"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.nlchp.org']);">National
Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty</a>, the <a
href="http://center.serve.org/nche/"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://center.serve.org']);">National
Center for Homeless Education</a> and the <a
href="http://www.nationalhomeless.org/"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.nationalhomeless.org']);">National
Coalition on the Homeless</a>.</p>
<p><em><strong>Bill Quigley</strong> teaches law at Loyola
University New Orleans. You can reach Bill at <a
href="mailto:quigley77@gmail.com">quigley77@gmail.com</a></em></p>
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