"Alarming" Increase in Homeless Families

Published October 21, 2008 @ 09:24AM PT

Families with children are rapidly becoming the new face of homelessness in America, according to a survey released this morning by USA Today. The twelve largest cities in the U.S. have all seen an increase in family homelessness in the past year.

In New York, the number of families with children seeking shelter has increased 32% since 2007. Hennepin County (which includes Minneapolis) has seen a 26% increase in families seeking shelter, and at least ten percent of these families were renters in properties that were foreclosed. In Portland, the number of requests for emergency shelter have doubled since last year.

According to the article:

"Everywhere I go, I hear there is an increase" in the need for housing aid, especially for families, says Philip Mangano, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which coordinates federal programs. He says the main causes are job losses and foreclosures.

Other factors have been higher food and fuel prices hitting families with "no cushion," says Nan Roman of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Clearly, mounting economic pressures, foreclosures, and the ever-increasing costs of living are hitting families hard.

Although this article only examined densly populated urban areas, we cannot forget about the thousands of families who are struggling in rural America. It's difficult to measure homelessness in these areas of the country since there are not many shelters or service-providers to provide data. As a result, homelessness in rural areas of the country often goes unreported, leading many people to believe homelessness only affects people in cities.

The moral of the story: if family homelessness is increasing the twelve largest cities in the U.S., it is no doubt affecting people in rural areas as well.

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Author

Shannon has worked in homeless shelters and service organizations in San Francisco, the Triangle region of North Carolina, and currently in the greater Boston area. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.