For years, the political establishment has espoused the benefits of owning a home. Given that, some might see it as tragically ironic that many of the policies that were put in place to help support those objectives have had the opposite effect. USA Today shines the light on one particular unintended consequence in "Homeless Numbers 'Alarming.'"
More families with children are becoming homeless as they face mounting economic pressures, including mortgage foreclosures, according to a USA TODAY survey of a dozen of the largest cities in the nation.
Local authorities say the number of families seeking help has risen in Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Portland, Seattle and Washington.
"Everywhere I go, I hear there is an increase" in the need for housing aid, especially for families, says Philip Mangano, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which coordinates federal programs. He says the main causes are job losses and foreclosures.
Other factors have been higher food and fuel prices hitting families with "no cushion," says Nan Roman of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
Many mayors have 10-year plans to end homelessness and had reported progress until this year. The most recent official count, in January 2007, found 671,888 people living on U.S. streets or in shelters, down 12% from January 2005.
"We saw family homelessness began to increase last winter," says Sally Erickson, Portland's homeless program manager. "There's definitely a spike in the last six months." The number of requests for emergency shelter doubled from fiscal year 2007 to fiscal 2008, which ended in June.
Darlene Newsom, who runs United Methodist Outreach Ministries' New Day Centers, which provide shelter programs for families in Phoenix, says the number of requests is "alarming." She says families who never sought help before are calling.
Los Angeles says it has no 2008 data. Miami reports no major change. Chicago has not had a surge in requests, but more come from renters evicted because of landlords' foreclosure, says Nancy Radner of the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness.
USA TODAY found:
• In New York City, 2,747 families applied for shelter in September 2008, up from 2,087 in September 2007.
• In Hennepin County, including Minneapolis, 880 families were in shelters from January through August 2008, up from 698 in that period last year. At least 10% this year came from foreclosed properties where most had been renters, says Cathy ten Broeke, county coordinator to end homelessness.
Dennis Culhane, a University of Pennsylvania professor of social policy, expects foreclosures to cause a "big increase" in homeless families.
Mangano says a new federal law gives communities $3.9 billion to buy foreclosed properties or provide services to the homeless.
Could this situation be due to some of these families who could have afforded a $100,000.00 home, are being foreclosed out of a #350,000.00 home? Nawwwwwwwwww! I am surely wrong on that!!
Posted by: H. Spencer | October 21, 2008 at 06:28 PM
When a crisis hits a Capitalist society we see this very strange
thing....amid super abundance there is wide spread need and misery.
" Karl Marx "
Posted by: roger | October 21, 2008 at 06:31 PM
All those anti-abortion people ought to be supporting a national sales tax to pay for more homeless services. Or maybe the churches ought to sponsor an ad campaign telling people not to have children they can't afford. Somehow I don't think we will get either. But we will end up with more homeless people and the quality of life will continue to decline in our cities. We're a very hypocritical country and now it's payback time. One area of the economy not cutting back is public broadcasting. It seems to be doing a great job reeling in foundation grants, for the time being.
Posted by: Rocky | October 22, 2008 at 10:31 AM
...it continues to amaze AND deeply disappoint me that regardless of the economic topic, most peoples' opinion revolves around what "the other party" did to cause this mess. Most still don't get it - BOTH sides of the aisle are equally guilty - BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, it doesn't matter anymore. We can argue, spit and sputter until AFTER everything collapses into a heap - or we can start dealing with the HERE NOW.
In regards to this topic, our small town of 40K has a challenge. The homeless population has increased tenfold but was not addressed until just recently when it was realized that there were dozens of people living in the town's only major park. Mom's would take kids to the community park pool and be accosted by the "park residents". Nearby store owners continually called for law enforcement on the "park residents" due to shoplifting, pandering, and accosting of customers outside said businesses. Park residents drank and fought for picnic tabletop beds. Now the town is paying thousands trying to implement a legal and "constitutional" vagrancy law. Something that has NEVER been discussed though in regards to the homeless problem was that prior to 3 or 4 years ago, we HAD NO HOMELESS PROBLEM. At that time, in their infinite wisdom, our town board passed a law disallowing residents from living in an RV on private property. Keep in mind, over the past 40-years thousands of RV'ers whom pass thru here (usually in the winter) ended up buying an acre+ of land, putting in electric, a well, and a septic system, and parked their RV and lived here over the winter - many thousands even ended up building a full-time home on that same land. The point is, a recreational vehicle (motorhome, travel trailer, camper, or even tent) is a CONSIDERABLY higher level of habitat than a cardboard box at the fairgrounds. Rescinding the "No RV Residency Law" makes too much sense though. They would also have to rescind a dozen other laws in regards to this concept - and that is what goes against the grain of most politicians - it seems like a step or two backwards - when in fact it easily rectifies a very short-sighted "betterment of society" philosophy.
No sense in using our God-given abilities to think NOW, since we've almost completed our job of destroying the US. Lets continue to sit on our derrieres while constantly passing more and more laws and ordinances while continually complaining about who " has urinated in our pond" - all the while losing sight of the REAL battle being fought and lost.
I'll try shortening my diatribe in the future. Sorry.
Posted by: Black Star Ranch | October 22, 2008 at 01:54 PM
I've been disappointed by the promise of homeownership. Not for the reasons you mentioned above--habitual hoarding has helped me skate past the foreclosure crisis--but because owning a home is expensive, and also a lot of work. In other words, it's a serious responsibility.
That's not something that is mentioned much to prospective buyers, either now or in the past. Homeownership is so embedded in the American Dream that people overlook the fact that they may not be suited for it, financially or otherwise, when they buy a house. The system accentuates the positive facets while ignoring the negative. It's homeownership Kool-Aid. I'm not even sure the mortgage crisis has modified this mentality.
Your homeless numbers--scary.
Posted by: Drea | October 22, 2008 at 05:43 PM