[acb-hsp] FW: Homeless Rate Steady In Latest Government Estimate

[Baracco, Andrew W]

Glad we're doing some good.

Andy

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=166851337 

 

Homeless Rate Steady In Latest Government Estimate

by The Associated Press

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WASHINGTON December 10, 2012, 01:05 am ET 

WASHINGTON (AP) - A vigorous effort to house the homeless has been
countered somewhat by a sluggish economy.

The federal government and local communities have greatly increased the
number of beds available to the homeless over the last four years,
either through emergency shelters or through government-subsidized
apartments and houses. But the struggling economy contributed to the
number of homeless people in the United States remaining stable between
January 2011 and January 2012.

The biggest drop occurred with veterans while homelessness within
families increased slightly, according to the latest national estimates.

Each January, thousands of workers with local governments and nonprofit
agencies fan out across the country to count the number of homeless
people living in shelters and on the streets during a specific 24-hour
period. The latest count estimates the number of homeless at 633,782,
according to the Housing and Urban Development Department. The year
before, the number stood at slightly more than 636,000.

Within those numbers was a more encouraging trend: The percentage of
homeless veterans as well as those homeless for more than a year each
dropped by about 7 percent. Agencies are focusing their dollars on
getting the long-term homeless into permanent housing and then providing
them with support services such as counseling and job training.

The Obama administration has set of goal of eliminating veterans'
homelessness and chronic homelessness by the end of 2015.

"This report continues a trend that clearly indicates we are on the
right track in the fight to end homelessness among veterans," said
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki.

Advocates welcomed the numbers, but said they showed there's still a
long way to go to meet the administration's goal.

"It's great that we made progress ... but we're obviously not going to
end it by 2015 at this pace," said Nan Roman, president of the National
Alliance to End Homelessness.

Mark Johnston, an acting assistant secretary at Housing and Urban
Development, said the stable homeless rate during tough economic times
was viewed as encouraging news.

Johnston said the federal government is spending about $1.9 billion to
house the homeless. The amount has steadily increased over the years,
with a particular boost coming from the 2009 economic stimulus package.

That investment would probably need to grow to about $20 billion to
provide housing for all of the homeless during a one-year period,
Johnston said. Officials know that's unlikely, so the focus is on
targeting the money where it's having the greatest effect.

They said more money is being directed to subsidize the cost of
permanent housing. HUD provides that money while Veterans Affairs steps
in with other services, such as drug and alcohol counseling and job
training.

Roman said the investment helps cut government costs elsewhere.

"People who don't have stable housing create all kinds of other costs.
Their health problems are worse. It's pretty much impossible to keep a
job, and it has all kinds of snowballing effects," Roman said. "So these
are smart public investments, and we need to keep going to reach these
goals."

Officials said most homeless people only need shelter for a few days or
weeks. They tend to rely on the more than 400,000 beds provided through
emergency shelters and transitional housing.

More than half of the homeless people who used such temporary help are
part of families using those services. The homelessness among people in
families increased by 1.4 percent in the latest count.

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