Who Are Our Nation's Homeless?
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by: Wendy Moyer
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Word Count: 410
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2012 Time: 2:40 PM
Ever since the state of our economy has been forcing people to leave their homes, tent cities have been springing up around the United States. These cities are strikingly reminiscent of the "Hoovervilles" that sprang up throughout America during the Depression in the 1930s.
Who are today's homeless? If you read this article your eyes will probably open to some pretty sad and sobering facts concerning homelessness in the United States.
One working definition of homelessness is "a person who doesn't have a regular, fixed and adequate residence for the night."
The National Center on Family Homelessness said, in a 2009 study, that approximately 2% of the children in the United States are now homeless.
Although it is difficult to accurately measure the amount of homeless people in America, there are estimates that as many as 3.5 million people - especially families - are now living in their cars, sleeping in homeless shelters, living on the streets, or residing in tent communities. Approximately 1.5 million of them are children.
According to a study that The National alliance to End Homelessness released in 2007, the ten states with the highest rates of homelessness are Washington, Rhode Island, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Hawaii Colorado, California and Alaska.
What are the Leading Causes of Homelessness?
According to the 2008 U.S. Conference of Mayors study, the three most common reasons that people in families cited for their homelessness were the lack of affordable housing, unemployment and poverty.
The same study indicated that the three most common causes of homelessness among singles was the lack of affordable housing, substance abuse and mental illness.
Although US veterans make up about 34% of the adult male population in America, roughly 40% of all homeless men are vets. On any night around 200,000 veterans do not have a home.
Although 11% of the general population is African American, they represent 42% of all homeless people.
78% of our general population is non-Hispanic whites. This group comprises 39% of the homelessness.
9% of our population is Hispanic; they are 13% of the people without homes.
Native Americans comprise about 1% of the US population and 4% of the homeless population.
2% of all homeless people are Asian.
Most of these people - approximately 71% - live in central cities, while 21% are in the suburbs and 9% live in rural parts of the country.
When people check into a homeless shelter they are often tracked with 211 software. 211 software is an advanced, web-based software that's designed for HMIS (homeless management), disaster management, elder car, information and referral, and the educational sectors.
About the Author
The most popular software that is used by institutions to track information about their clients is 211 software. To find out more about 211 Software go to http://www.visionlink.org/211ir.html
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