Homelessness
For this shirt we are not partnering with any one organization. We want to help out as many as possible and focus on some of the local programs that are important to you guys. Know of a great local shelter or homeless shelter? Have them contact us. We can give them a special code to promote locally and for every person that uses that code to order one of the shirts we will donate $7 directly to them.
Widespread homelessness didn’t always exist; however, during the 1980s homelessness increased significantly. Now, on any given night, approximately 750,000 men, women, and children are homeless in the US.
A homeless person, as defined in the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence or their primary residence is one of the following:
- A temporary place for people about to be institutionalized;
- Any place not meant for regular sleeping accommodations by humans; or
- A supervised temporary shelter.
This definition also includes those people who are at risk of losing their homes because they are being evicted from their residence or they are being discharged from institutions, such as hospitals or prisons, and have nowhere else to go.
The major cause of homelessness in the US is the lack of affordable housing. This deficit is caused by a low supply of inexpensive housing and low incomes which prevent households from being able to afford housing. Housing is considered affordable when a household spends no more than 30 percent of its income on housing. This growing scarcity of affordable housing, combined with the deinstitutionalization of our most vulnerable citizens and a growing gap between earnings and the cost of living, has left hundreds of thousands of individuals and families homeless.
In response, the federal government created a two-billion dollar homeless assistance system. This system met the immediate food, shelter, and services needs of homeless people, but, after years of trying to make this system work, it became apparent that this system did not have the resources to end homelessness. Mainstream programs such as welfare, health care, housing assistance, and substance abuse treatment, the systems responsible for providing a safety net for poor people, were shifting the responsibility to the homeless assistance system.
Statistics For Homeless Population
Over the course of a year, between 2.5 and 3.5 million people will live either on the streets or in an emergency shelter.
Over 5 million low-income households have serious housing problems due to high housing costs, substandard housing conditions, or both.
Within 2-4 years of existing foster care, 25 percent of foster children experience homelessness.
About 600,000 families and 1.35 million children experience homelessness in the US each year, and about 50 percent of the total homeless population is a part of a family.
It is estimated that between 23 and 40 percent of homeless adults are veterans.
The rate of HIV infection in the homeless population is three times higher than that of the general population.
Homeless children go hungry twice as often as other children.
In rural areas, families, single mothers, and children make up the largest group of people who are homeless.
Only 20 percent of homeless families report they receive help finding housing.
43 percent of children living with homeless parents are under the age of 6.
Ending Homelessness Is Possible
In 2000, the National Alliance to End Homelessness announced A Plan, Not a Dream: How to End Homeless in Ten Years and since that time, hundreds of communities have created their own plans to end homelessness, and across the country, cities, counties, and states have taken action and created their own plans. These plans utilize key strategies espoused by the Alliance:
Create Data Systems. Communities have developed homeless management information systems that can be analyzed to assess how long people are homeless, what their needs are, what the causes of homelessness are, how people interact with mainstream systems of care, the effectiveness of interventions, and the number of homeless people.
Homelessness Prevention. Communities have developed emergency homelessness prevention programs that include rent, mortgage, and utility assistance; case management; landlord or lender intervention; and other strategies to prevent eviction and homelessness. Communities also have mainstream programs that provide care and services to low-income people and consistently assess and respond to their housing needs. Ensuring that public institutions (hospitals, prisons, jails, and mental health facilities) are discharging people into housing is equally important.
Outreach. Communities have developed outreach and engagement systems designed to reduce barriers and encourage homeless people to enter appropriate housing linked with appropriate services.
Shortening Time of Homelessness. Shelter and transitional housing systems in communities were organized to minimize the length of time people remain homeless, and the number of time they become homeless.
Links to Services. Once households are re-housed, they have rapid access to services. Mainstream programs – Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid, and others – provide the bulk of these services.
What You Can Do
Help people meet their daily needs. Think about the things that you do every day and the things you would not be able to live without. Homeless people need many of those same things and you can help them:
Cook a meal and deliver it to an organization that serves food to people that do not have homes.
Find out what a homeless program in your community needs most and collect money from your friends, neighbors, and family. Then buy and deliver those items to the program.
Collect blankets, hats, and gloves for people who are living on the street and deliver these warm items to them.
Treat homeless people the same way you would treat people who have a home and the same way you would want to be treated.
Teach other people about homelessness, its causes and how to solve it.
Write your national, state, and local government representatives who make the laws that affect homeless people. Tell your representatives what you have learned about homelessness and ask them what they plan to do to help these people.