Facts About
Homelessness
The following fact sheets were prepared in conjunction with a briefing on child and family homelessness for Congressional Staff on March 18, 2005.
One of the primary sources for understanding homelessness is the annual US Conference of Mayors Hunger and Homelessness Survey. 24 U.S. cities participated in the 2005 survey, which revealed the following:
Lack of affordable housing leads the list of causes of homelessness identified by the city officials. Other causes cited, in order of frequency include low-paying jobs, mental illness and the lack of needed services, substance abuse and the lack of needed services, domestic violence, unemployment, poverty, and prisoner re-entry.
During the past year, requests for emergency shelter increased in the survey cities by an average of 6 percent, with 71 percent of the cities registering an increase. Requests for shelter by homeless families alone increased by 5 percent, with 63 percent of the cities reporting an increase.
An average of 14 percent of the requests for emergency shelter by homeless people overall and 32 percent of the requests by homeless families alone are estimated to have gone unmet during the last year. In 88 percent of the cities, emergency shelters may have to turn away homeless families due to lack of resources; in 79 percent they may also have to turn away other homeless people.
People remain homeless an average of seven months in the survey cities. Eighty-seven percent of the cities said that the length of time people were homeless increased during the last year.
In 57 percent of the cities, families may have to break up in order to be sheltered. In 48 percent of the cities families may have to spend their daytime hours outside of the shelter they use at night.
Requests for assisted housing by low-income families and individuals increased in 86 percent of the cities during the last year.
Survey cities say that the federal government’s policy for the evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita should be extended to homeless people, especially making housing available within a relatively short time, and eliminating red tape for other social services.
Ninety-three percent of the survey cities expect that requests for emergency shelter to increase in 2006. Ninety-five percent of the survey cities expect that requests for shelter by families to increase in 2006.
Click here to download the complete survey in Adobe .pdf format.