Ohio's Homeless Could be State's 7th Largest City
Published November 28, 2009 @ 12:17PM PT
If you put all of Ohio's homeless people in one place, it would be the seventh largest city in Ohio.
That caught your attention, eh? Same thing happened to me earlier this week when I read a similar headline. That's a lot of people, I thought to myself. See - I was familiar with Ohio's homeless counts. I'd read the statistics, I knew the numbers were growing. But to think that all of those without a home could fall right between Dayton and Parma to be the 7th largest city in the entire state? That gave the number a whole new meaning.
This got me thinking. As homeless numbers continue to grow this winter, it's absolutely necessary to report the statistics. But perhaps equally critical is giving these numbers some kind of context that's easy to grasp. Something that's representative of the scope of the problem. Something to catch people's eye and force them to pay attention.
So 150,000 homeless people in Ohio? Why that's the population of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Or the amount of money spent on Sarah Palin's clothes by the RNC during last year's presidential election. Or the number of people who get cancer in Turkey each year.
Yes, the message is important. But how we say it and put it in context cannot be ignored, either.
How would you quantify your community's homeless population in a way that is interesting and eye-catching? Leave it in the comments below.
Image: SouthernGaming.com
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Comments (1)
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Author
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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.
Okay, now you have our attention. So what is the cause of 'my' states homeless problem?
I support helping the homeless; it's urgent, but if we are going to fix the problem we need to know the real reasons and not stoop to propaganda.
There are two main causes for homeless: psychological illness and big governments that have driven away business from their state because of over regulations and high taxes (bing bing OHIO). The first we can come together and help...the second is harder to fix because the belief that we can tax our way out of problems.
Sure tax our way out of problems, tell that to the homeless this winter.
Posted by B D on 12/01/2009 @ 11:20AM PT
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