Crossposted at Kos.
Via the New Standard, from the AP:
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimated there were 754,000 homeless people in 2005, including those living in shelters, transitional housing and on the street. That’s about 300,000 more people than available beds in shelters and transitional housing.
Of course, HUD admitted that they undercounted in 2000. That report, from the last year of the Clinton Administration, showed only 171,700 homeless. The Urban Institute, in 1996, used Census tabulations to find that there were between 600,000 to 840,000 homeless Americans.
Among the findings for people in shelters and transitional housing:
- Nearly half were single adult men.
- Nearly a quarter were minors.
- Less than 2 percent were older than 65.
- About 59 percent were members of minority groups.
- About 45 percent were black.
- About a quarter had a disability, though experts said the percentage is probably much higher.
Add to this that many of these homeless are addicts and/or are mentally ill. But these people could be assisted and redeemed, if local, state and Federal governments truly exercised the will to solve this continuing problem.
Emergency shelters are more than 90 percent full on average nights, said a recent report sponsored by the Urban Institute. Overcrowding would occur were it not for seasonal shelters (especially during this crazy winter) taking up the slack. By comparison, homeless families occupy less than three-quarters of transitional housing.
I would not be surprised that of the disabled, many may be veterans, veterans of the first Gulf War waged by Bush senior. No doubt, if patterns continue, their number will swell with junior Bush’s war on vets: long on platitudes about supporting the troops, but way short on continuing benefits, physical and mental health care.
If minors are on the street, they are a part of families headed by single mothers. The number of homeless families are said to be markedly higher in rural areas than in cities. If not, they are children who have been kicked out of their homes because they are gay or `unmanageable.’
But get this. The number arrived at doesn’t even touch those still homeless from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, which two years ago displaced another 750,000 people. There is no true accounting of how adequately the survivors are housed, in or immediately outside of New Orleans or outside the state of Louisiana. While there have been published stories of individuals and families being placed in favorable circumstances, many have not been as lucky.
Worse, those who are already homeless in other cities and towns have to compete for services with those who are trying to recover from the disaster. This is something I witnessed when the Oakland Hills brushfires displaced many upper- and middle-class residents in the late 1980s. Interestingly, the residents refused to call themselves homeless, yet certainly availed themselves of generous short-term benefits from the city fathers and other charities before the insurance money kicked in. Meanwhile, scores of other homeless people were dramatically shortchanged, and wondered why they couldn’t have the same assistance and concern for their plight.
Alphonso Jackson of HUD is still keeping out the bulk of New Orleanians who want to move back into their homes, while proposing to demolish the four largest projects. Meanwhile, those lucky enough to have a FEMA trailer or a car to live in are getting smacked by tornadoes before they can move back into new homes.
One notorious Katrina homeless camp in Baker, Louisiana, just outside Baton Rouge, Renaissance Village, could classify as a 21st century Hooverville. Dozens of underage children are still roving about unsupervised, truant or unregistered in local schools. Some parents use older children to safeguard what belongings and food remain, or to take care of younger siblings while the adults work.
Said Karla Leopold of the Rosie O’Donnell’s For All Kids Foundation (RFAK) in late August 2006, during the days marking the first anniversary of the tragedy:
It has been a very difficult year for these people. Their relocation to Renaissance Village has not been easy. Getting the children enrolled and attending school has been difficult. The number of teenagers not going to school is alarming. The school district appears overwhelmed and ill prepared to deal with these children from New Orleans. Two therapists from our team spent a separate week working hard to enroll the children and dealing with some of the difficulties involved. The day care center, teen center and Head Start facilities donated by RFAK over eight months ago are still not opened due to construction delays and the complexities of working with governmental entities. There are no computers for the people to access their e-mail or to do research. The bus service has been severely reduced. The food service closed. So many of these people have lost everything and lack the means, strength and skills to rebuild their lives and many of them are reluctant to accept the help that is offered through agencies
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Their mental health needs are overwhelming. This displaced population has been traumatized. As reported by the New York Times: “Among children fourth grade and beyond, affected by the storm, 49 percent met the threshold for mental health clinical referrals.” This is a generational problem that is not being treated. The Red Cross and members of the community report that our team of art therapists and volunteers has offered the most consistent and effective mental health services for the families of Renaissance Village. Yet we work there only every other month and have no future trips planned.
The RFAK website has not been updated since November, 2006.
All of this is a goddamn shame. In our America.
The contempt for homeless people, I might add, is getting worse. Here’s a bunch of high school kids who just don’t understand.
That is a very disheartening video.
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WASHINGTON (AFP) Feb. 24 – The gulf between rich and poor in the United States is yawning wider than ever, and the number of extremely impoverished is at a three-decade high, a report out found.
Based on the latest available US census data from 2005, the McClatchy Newspapers analysis found that almost 16 million Americans live in “deep or severe poverty” defined as a family of four with two children earning less than 9,903 dollars — one half the federal poverty line figure.
For individuals the “deep poverty” threshold was an income under 5,080 dollars a year.
“The McClatchy analysis found that the number of severely poor Americans grew by 26 percent from 2000 to 2005,” the US newspaper chain reported.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."This is heartbreaking.
Your point about mental illness and addiction is telling. Was it two decades ago, or three, that the government made the decision to deal with snake pit mental institutions by turning people who needed help onto the streets, rather than addressing their need for better care and fixing the system?
On a more personal note, I have to admit I was recently confronted by my own biases against homeless people.
I cast a young man whom I did not know in a play I was directing. As I chatted with him before a rehearsal, he told me he had been homeless up until a year or so ago. “Oh, great,” I thought, “I’ve cast someone in this show who may not be reliable or who may not be stable.”
This man, who is working as a busboy in order to pursue his creative endeavors — he is also a published author — was dedicated, hardworking, talented and far more centered than many actors I have worked with.
I’m still feeling shame for the assumption I leaped to.
Only in America among the modern industrialized nations. Reagan’s greed ethic which demonized the Black people and the poor is not only still with us, but is inhibiting the development of liberal-socialist programs that are needed to maintain the social safety net supported by liberal Democrats.
Republicans say Democrats like to bash America. Is this the kind of America we want, where we continue to demonize the poor while exhalting the wealthy in degree that they are considered the needy in need of tax breaks, which restrict monies available for aid to the poor?
Even though I live way under the poverty line and qualify as one of Americas “poor elderly”, (living only on SS income,) I feel rich, compared to so many other Americans. Because by sharing housing, and living a very simple, frugal life, I have all that I need: a decent safe place to live, enough to eat, and because, as an ex RN case manager who knows the system, I have managed to get the medical care I need. I am fortunate and I know it. This is not what I envisioned for my retirement, after 45 years in the workforce and raising two kids on my own, but it is a rich, good life nonetheless.
But last night, as the winds whipped the snow around outside my window, I thought about out good sized, warm and cozy living room sitting empty except for my cat. I thought about how many people could be sleeping in there, warm and safe from bitter winter winds. Sleep was a long time coming.
What we don’t like to admit about homelessness is that it is almost always a function of our abyssmal mental health system (whether of the victim or a victimizer). People walk by the homeless and shun them, telling themselves “that person could get a job…or public assistance…” and ignoring the fact that there is virtually no effective access to medical support for mental illness and/or addiction in our society. To access even the most minimal level of mental health care for low income clients takes such persistence that few victims can manage it.
I read this post just after doing a diary on the cost of not having national healthcare. I am going to update it with a cross-post. This is just one more cost to society.
I would suspect there are a lot more than 750,000 in the United States.