Counting homeless, don’t forget to house them

HUD recently presented their first ever Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, showing upwards of 3/4 of a million people are homeless in the United States.

At the end of February the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released their latest counts of homeless in the United States. It is the first count that paints a picture of the problem since 1984. Furthermore it is the first report to Congress, EVER:

HUD’s first-ever Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, showed an estimated 754,000 persons are homeless in America on any given night.

It's about time!

“This … study is a huge leap forward in our understanding of not only how many people are homeless, but also what their needs are,” said HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson in a news release. “We’ve got to remember that behind these numbers are people – individuals and families who are struggling to survive. This report is a powerful tool to help all of us at the federal, state and local level design more effective responses to homelessness.”
Since 2001, HUD has awarded more than $9 billion to support thousands of local housing and service programs throughout the nation and is seeking a record $1.6 billion through the Department’s Continuum of Care grant programs for fiscal 2008.

According to the National Coalition for the Homeless the 754,000 are 300,000 more people then there are shelter beds in the United States. In a statement the organization said:

HUD’s staggering finding is an indictment of the previously absent political will to end homelessness. This report confirms the need for both emergency response legislation, such as the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act (H.R. 840), to double federal dollars in homeless assistance programs, as well as the need for a comprehensive response to the affordable housing crisis in our nation. This includes the passage of the Bringing America Home Act (to be reintroduced in the 110th Congress), the establishment of a National Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and significant increases in existing federal housing programs.
While the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) supports HUD’s efforts, any attempt to estimate the number of people experiencing homelessness is limited by time and practical restraints, whether in one night, three months or over the course of a year. Additionally, homeless counts are based on individuals living on the streets, in shelters or transitional housing facilities. By using HUD’s current restrictive definition of homelessness, the counts fail to include many homeless persons, especially those living in suburban and rural areas where doubling up or living in motels is common place. More expansive definitions, like that used by the U.S. Department of Education, would include these individuals, allowing a more accurate estimate of the homeless population.
NCH stresses that ending homelessness requires long term far-reaching action to both house those currently facing homelessness, as well as to prevent those at immediate risk of losing housing and becoming homeless. This cannot be done without the establishment of increased affordable housing, livable incomes, educational and vocational training, universal health care, and the assurance of protecting homeless peoples’ civil rights.

• 65 percent of the adult population is men
• 41 percent is 31 to 50 years old
• 66 percent are individuals and 34 percent is persons in families with children
• 75 percent is in central cities and 25 percent is in suburban and rural areas HUD also collected one-night counts of homeless persons, both at the shelter level and on the streets in more than 3,800 cities and counties. It found an estimated 754,000 persons were in shelters and on the streets during one night in January 2005. HUD’s point-in-time estimate is very similar to an analysis of the same data conducted by the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Homelessness is a profound problem in the United States that requires immediate attention. It is about readjusting our priorities in what must receive attention. The issue of poverty cannot just be looked at as one with statistics… it must be looked as one that affects real people.

Photo taken by Laubscher

Photo taken by Aaron Krager

In response to the report, Michael Stoops, acting executive director of NCH, says “It's okay to count homeless people. But we need to make sure that we're working at housing homeless people and not just gathering statistics."

At least, HUD Director Alfonso Jackson and Executive Director of NCH are on the same page to not forget they are people!