This number was unacceptable to me so I had to find more information. The National Coalition for the Homeless reports the number of people homeless at one time is around 750,000(1). No matter, three-quarters of a million people without a place to live is still gigantic.
The National Coalition for the Homeless details how it compiles the information it collects. Homelessness includes children who live in a house with another family, perhaps relatives or close friends(2). The numbers also include children in the middle of a move from one place to another.
The National Coalition for the Homeless reports data from the Department of Education that 92% of children included in the homeless count lived either with family or friends, in motels or other housing, or in some kind of public or private shelter(1).
These numbers are quite encouraging. The vast majority of people who need help are receiving it. Their families and their communities are stepping up to the plate and reaching out to them. Many of these families are simply in transition while they are looking for more permanent housing. Very, very few people are actually sleeping in a car or on the street itself. We have not turned our back on those in need, even though there is always more we can do.
The National Coalition for the Homeless reports more than 30% of the counted homeless have some kind of substance abuse problem and 26% suffer from serious mental illness(2). These are serious issues and there are a lot of outreach groups trying to help people who need it. Some of these groups report they need more financial assistance and cooperation from those who need help is also an obstacle. Many or most who are reported as chronically homeless, which is people who aren't simply in transitional or temporary housing but constantly find themselves in that position, have serious mental illness or drug addictions(3). There is data that suggests more can be done to improve this and that interventions can effectively reduce these numbers.
We have government programs designed solely to help people obtain housing. One of the largest programs, HUD, has a stated mission to "create...quality affordable homes for all."(4) With a budget of $50 billion(5), I had a difficult time finding anything on their website that suggests they build any homes at all.
As a big fan of any organization that creates new things, I went to a proven organization with a track record of building homes, Habitat for Humanity. It's reported that Habitat for Humanity builds homes in the US for an average of $46,600(6). At that price, if the entire budget of HUD for just one year were given to Habitat for Humanity, they could build 1.07 million homes and have 300,000 more homes than homeless individuals. Since many people classified homeless are families not individuals, and most people classified as homeless actually have a place to live, this would probably create nearly a million vacant homes.
So you can count every person in a given year who at one point or another is temporarily in the middle of a move or some kind of transition or even short-term in a shelter and come up with a staggering 3.5 million Americans with around 1 million children(1). Or you can realize that for most Americans needing help, their families and communities are reaching out to them and that an independent organization such as Habitat for Humanity can create far more homes than a government agency ever will.
Footnotes
- http://nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/How_Many.html
- http://nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/who.html
- http://www.endhomelessness.org/section/issues/chronic_homelessness
- http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/about/mission
- http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=2012BudgetFinal_03_07_Web.pdf
- http://www.showmehabitat.org/myths.php
