Tuesday, July 14, 2009

No change in the level of homelessness from 2007 to 2008


HUD Releases 2008 Homelessness Data
From: NAEH Editor: Amanda Krusemark (mailto:info@naeh.org)

Last Thursday, July 9, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its 2008 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress, which reveals virtually no change from 2007 to 2008 in the level of overall homelessness.

The report, the fourth of its kind, includes point-in-time count data from January 2008 and twelve months of shelter use data that comes from Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) in over 200 communities. This is the first release of national homelessness data that was collected since unemployment began increasing up in the Spring 2007 and since the recession began in Fall 2007. The result appears to suggest that the economy is having an impact of homelessness, as the "no change" result reflects an abrupt halt to the decreases in family, chronic, and overall homeless measured from 2005 to 2007. The full report can be downloaded from the HUD website.

Note that homelessness is actually UP in Adults in Families and Children in Families, even though the overall change was insignificant.

You can also view the Alliance's press release and blog post for more information about the findings and the Alliance's response. A presentation on these results by the authors of the report will occur during the "New Data on Homelessness" workshop at the Alliance's National Conference of Ending Homelessness later this month. Download the Report

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Homeless in the Suburbs

Read this terrific article in Parenting Magazine. The piece highlights the poignant stories of 3 families caught in a crisis.