Although levels of homelessness are staying the same, family homelessness is on the rise. I was reading an article at RealEstateRama last week that covered this year’s Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), recently released by the US Congress and prepared by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It announced that levels of homelessness have stayed essentially unchanged in the wake of the recession. But, what really caught my attention was the explanation of how this could be. It turns out that the number of families seeking shelter is still on the rise, but averaged out by a drop in chronic homelessness. While the overall trend is encouraging, this increase in family homelessness is something I believe may continue if the future economy remains just as unforgiving.
Families who were already vulnerable before the recession are now even closer to falling into homelessness. In fact, as the report shows, rates of families “doubling up” (multiple families living in one residence) has increased by 8.5 percent. These precarious living situations cannot be maintained for long, and these families will need to be helped. Otherwise, next year’s report may reveal an even steeper increase in the number of families seeking shelter.
As our staff at Doorways prepare their end of year reports this week, I am sure it will be eye opening to see the number of families we have served and the number we could not support due to program capacity. Stay tuned for our end of year statistics as our annual reporting comes to a close in July.
~ Linda
Caroline Jones
