US homeless numbers stay about the same as before pandemic
President Joe Biden's administration announced Monday it is ramping up efforts to help house people now sleeping on sidewalks, in tents and cars as a new federal report confirms what's obvious to people in many cities: Homelessness is persisting despite increased local efforts. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said that in federally required tallies taken across the country earlier this year, about 582,000 people were counted as homeless — a number that misses some people and does not include those staying with friends or family because they do not have a place of their own. The administration aims to lower that by 25% by 2025.
news.yahoo.comA force for change: Getting homeless families off the streets
That would mean hundreds of thousands of more men, women, and children living on the streets, in tents, shelters, cars, or motels throughout the country. “Families with children are the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population. Families make up close to 40% of the homeless population. Rajni Shankar-Brown has dedicated her life to changing how people and communities respond to the homeless. “Trying to build resources, ways that families can truly thrive and receive the support they need,” said Shankar-Brown.
Housing First: A permanent housing program for the chronically homeless
No rules, no conditions, just a place to live through Housing First, a unique program aimed at helping the chronically homeless find permanent housing with no strings attached. "The shelter system is dangerous and unreliable...people need permanent housing that is not contingent on meeting certain milestones," says Executive Director of the Downtown Emergency Services Center in Seattle (DESC), Daniel Malone. "People deserve time and investment, they deserve something as simple as permanent housing so they can start living." The program has also been shown to have economic incentives for municipalities, proposing that permanent housing for the chronic homeless is more cost effective than paying for their hospital visits, jail time or array of expensive services. "That's just not how it works: people deserve time and investment, they deserve something as simple as permanent housing so they can start living."
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