Community Service Center

Educate Yourself! - Homelessness

Homelessness is defined by the United States Federal Government as:

  1. an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and
  2. an individual who has a primary nighttime residence that is —
    1. a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill);
    2. an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or
    3. a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.

There are different stages in homelessness. There is chronic homelessness which is defined as unaccompanied individual with a disabling condition who has been continuously homeless for a year or more, or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years.

Here are some statistics regarding homelessness not only in your backyard, but also in our country and our world.

Local:

  • The Ventura County Homeless and Housing Coalition has concluded that there are at least 1,000 residents who are homeless on a given day within the county.
  • The Ventura County Homeless and Housing Coalition has also concluded that approximately 6,000 residents experience homeless over the course of a year.

Visit http://www.vchhc.org/ for more information on homelessness in Ventura County, CA.

Domestic:

In January 2005, an estimated 754,147 people in the U.S. experienced homelessness. 338,781 of those people were living on the streets, in cars, on in other areas that were not meant for human habitation.

  • 56 percent of homeless people counted were living in shelters and transitional housing and, shockingly, 44 percent were unsheltered.
  • 59 percent of homeless people counted were single adults and 41 percent were persons living in families.
  • In total, 98,452 homeless families were counted.
  • 23 percent of homeless people were reported as chronically homeless, which, according to HUD’s definition, means that they are homeless for long periods or repeatedly and have a disability.
  • A number of states had high rates of homelessness, including Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington State. In addition, Washington, DC had a high rate of homeless people.

Visit http://www.endhomelessness.org/ for more information on homelessness within the United State.

International:

  • Nearly 3.5 million people experience homelessness each year, according to The National Coalition for the Homeless, findings from the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, the Urban Institute, and the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers.
  • The National Coalition for the Homeless cites two tendencies for the increase in homelessness over the last quarter of the century. The first is an increasing "shortage of affordable rental housing.” The second, operating concurrently, is an "increase in poverty" and a "complex set of circumstances" that force people to make difficult choices "between food, shelter and other basic needs.”

Visit http://www.partnerregions.org/social-issues-homelessness-statistics-facts-homeless-people-shelters-charities-and-youth.html for more information on homelessness throughout the world.

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