• Families in homeless shelters increased 7% in ‘09, By Marisol Bello, June 15, 2010, USA Today: “The recession continued to take its toll as more families with children became homeless for the second straight year, a U.S. government report shows. The number of families in homeless shelters increased 7% to 170,129 from fiscal year 2008 through fiscal year 2009, a report released today by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found. At the same time, the overall number of homeless people in shelters fell 2% to 1.56 million. ‘As the nation’s housing and job markets show encouraging signs of recovery, there are still far too many families who are on the brink of becoming homeless or have fallen into our shelter system,’ Secretary Shaun Donovan said in a statement…”
• More families are homeless and on the streets, By Tami Luhby, June 16, 2010, CNNMoney.com: “The Great Recession drove more families into homeless shelters in 2009, a new federal report has found. Some 170,000 families needed shelter last year, up from 159,000 in 2008, according to an annual survey from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. There were 535,000 people in those families. Over the course of the past year, the number of people in homeless shelters dipped slightly to 1.56 million, from 1.6 million a year earlier. This translates into one of every 200 Americans. On a single night in January 2009, there were just over 643,000 homeless people nationwide. But, there are fewer people actually on the streets. More than 60% of people were in emergency shelters or transitional housing programs, while 37% were on the street or in other places not meant for human habitation. In 2008, some 42% were living on the streets…”

City drops plan to charge rent to shelter residents, By Cara Buckley, June 4, 2010, New York Times: “The Bloomberg administration has abandoned a controversial decision to charge rent to working homeless families living at city shelters, officials announced on Friday. Instead, under a new agreement that could start in September, such families would be required to set aside a part of their monthly earnings in a savings account that they can have access to once they leave the shelter system. ‘This plan will make it easier for homeless families to move into permanent housing with savings in the bank,’ said State Senator Daniel L. Squadron, who represents parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn and pushed for the new agreement, which had the support of city and state officials, as well as advocates for the homeless. Steven Banks, attorney in chief at the Legal Aid Society, which was poised to sue the city if it had continued charging rent to the working homeless families in shelters, described the new plan as a ‘huge step forward…’”

• Hawaii homelessness still rising in wake of recession’s job cuts, By Mary Vorsino, May 5, 2010, Honolulu Advertiser: “Despite signs of an economic recovery, advocates warn that many Hawai’i families are still teetering close to homelessness - or falling into it - as they run through their savings. Shelters islandwide report a steady flow of people coming in who are direct victims of the recession, after losing their jobs or seeing their pay or hours cut. And preliminary results from the state’s annual homeless point-in-time count, conducted in January and to be released this month, show homelessness rose 10 to 15 percent from last year in parts of O’ahu, advocates who oversaw the survey said…”
• Homeless numbers on the rise in metro area, By Helmut Schmidt, May 5, 2010, Forum of Fargo-Moorhead: “Kelvin Pederson and Bruce Wang can tell you a thing or two about homelessness. Pederson, 55, hasn’t had a place of his own for a year. Wang hasn’t had a true home for six years by his reckoning. The two residents at Moorhead’s Churches United for the Homeless said a loss of cheap housing, transportation and lack of credit are among the biggest issues that keep people homeless in the Fargo-Moorhead metro area. ‘I can starve to death and have a roof over my head,’ Pederson said. ‘Or eat and be homeless,’ said Wang, finishing the thought. Both have noticed an increase in the number of homeless people in the area. ‘Every day there’s people looking for beds,’ Pederson said. A survey released Tuesday of North Dakota homelessness - which included Moorhead - backs that up, showing double-digit percentage increases in homelessness the past two years…”

• Count of Dallas County homeless finds fewer living on the streets long-term, By Kim Horner, April 26, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Homelessness in Dallas County increased 1 percent - to 5,750 - during another year of difficult economic times, according to a new survey by the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance. But the annual count, conducted Jan. 28, showed major progress in the city’s efforts to combat long-term homelessness among those with mental illnesses and addictions. The number of people considered chronically homeless dropped 14 percent. And the number of families on the street also dropped. ‘We’re trying to end chronic homelessness, and we got that number to go down significantly this year,’ said Mike Rawlings, a businessman who serves as Dallas’ homeless czar. He attributed the success to new permanent supportive housing programs that provide apartments and services, such as mental health care…”
• Honolulu homeless move tents onto sidewalks in legal loophole, By Mary Vorsino, April 24, 2010, Honolulu Advertiser: “In the wake of a ban on tents in city parks that police started enforcing Monday, more homeless appear to be setting up camp on sidewalks - something the city says is legal as long as they don’t block pedestrian traffic. Yesterday, several advocates and urban Honolulu residents said they had noticed more people living in tents or makeshift shelters on sidewalks recently. But advocates also pointed out that the ban prompted a good number of people to move into homeless shelters or to get on waiting lists for shelters…”

• Handing out money to stave off homelessness, By Peter S. Goodman, April 19, 2010, New York Times: “Two years into a merciless downward spiral, Antonio Moore was threatened with living on the street. He had lost his $75,000-a-year job as a mortgage consultant, his three-bedroom house with a Jacuzzi, his Lexus sedan. He could no longer pay even the rent on his cramped studio apartment - not on his $10-an-hour part-time job as a fry cook at a fast food restaurant. Faced with eviction, he was staring last month at the imminent prospect of joining the teeming ranks of the homeless. His last hope was a new $1.5 billion federal program aimed at preventing that fate. Within days of applying, a check for $775 was on its way to Mr. Moore’s landlord, enabling him to stay - at least for now. Much like the Great Depression, when millions of previously working people came to rely on a new social safety net for their sustenance, a swelling group of formerly middle-class Americans like Mr. Moore, 30, is seeking government aid for the first time. Without help, say economists, many are at risk of slipping permanently into poverty, even as economic conditions improve…”
• Homeless families in motels decline, By Nancy H. Gonter, April 18, 2010, Springfield Republican: “State statistics show the number of homeless families living in motels across the commonwealth has declined over the past two months, but it is still costing close to $2 million a month to provide them places to live. State and regional leaders in the efforts to address homelessness say a continuing need for more ‘affordable housing’ to provide these families a new start remains at the root of the problem. And, they caution that the stagnant economy and expectations for state budget reductions threaten to force even more families onto the streets in the months ahead…”

• City orders end to sending homeless to illegal houses, By Julie Bosman, April 7, 2010, New York Times: “For years, homeless people were sent by the city to illegal boarding houses, places with crowded conditions, rows of bunk beds and vermin. For many of the buildings’ landlords, it was an easy way to turn a run-down house into a fairly lucrative operation - tenants were charged hundreds of dollars each month for little more than a mattress. ‘There was a situation where individuals realized very quickly they could change their home into an illegal setup and make money,’ said Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker. On Wednesday, the city said it was going to act decisively to end the practice. More than 200 staff members in shelters run by nonprofit organizations and the Department of Homeless Services will be told to stop referring homeless people to buildings that have been found to be unsafe based on inspections by city agencies…”
• Federal survey finds homelessness, shelters are more expensive than housing, By Ted Roelofs, April 7, 2010, Grand Rapids Press: “A new federal survey finds that housing the homeless in emergency shelters can be more costly than the typical cost of rent or transitional housing. For Grand Rapids, the average cost of a one-bedroom apartment is just under $600, compared to a cost of $744 a month at the Guiding Light Mission. And while the mission also offers three meals a deal and day shelter for that cost, Executive Director Stuart Ray said the point is this: It costs more to house the homeless than prevent the loss of a home in the first place…”

• Study: Homelessness up sharply in Minn., By Toni Randolph, March 31, 2010, Minnesota Public Radio: “The number of homeless people in Minnesota has risen sharply over the past three years, according to a study released Wednesday by the Wilder Foundation. The study counted 9,452 homeless people in Minnesota during a one-day survey conducted last October. That’s up 22 percent from 2006 levels. The uptick follows a six-year period of relative stability in the homeless numbers…”
• Ranks of homeless rising in Minnesota, By Warren Wolfe, March 30, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribunre: “Homelessness in Minnesota rose 22 percent in the past three years, reaching the highest level in at least two decades, according to initial findings from a statewide survey by Wilder Research of St. Paul. Analysts blamed the weak economy. There were 9,452 men, women and children in shelters, transitional housing and on the streets during the one-day survey conducted last October, up from 7,751 in 2006, according to findings being made public Wednesday…”

Apartment rents cheaper than stays in homeless shelters, By Marisol Bello, March 25, 2010, USA Today: “Cities, states and the federal government pay more to provide the homeless with short-term shelter and services than what it would cost to rent permanent housing, the U.S. government reports. A study of 9,000 families and individuals being released today by the Department of Housing and Urban Development finds that costs to house the newly homeless vary widely, depending on the type of shelter and social services provided by the six cities in the report. Emergency shelter for families was the most costly. In Washington, D.C., the average bill for a month in an emergency shelter ranges from $2,500 to $3,700. In Houston, the average is $1,391…”

• Number of people living on New York streets soars, By Julie Bosman, March 19, 2010, New York Times: “The Bloomberg administration said Friday that the number of people living on New York’s streets and subways soared 34 percent in a year, signaling a setback in one of the city’s most intractable problems. Appearing both startled and dismayed by the sharp increase, a year after a significant drop, administration officials attributed it to the recession, noting that city shelters for families and single adults had been inundated. Robert V. Hess, the commissioner of homeless services, said in a subdued news conference that the city began feeling the increase in its vast shelter system more than two years ago. ‘And now we’re seeing the devastating effect of this unprecedented poor economy on our streets as well,’ Mr. Hess said. The city’s annual tally indicated an additional 783 homeless people on the streets and in the subway system, for a total of 3,111, up from 2,328 last year. That is in addition to almost 38,000 people living in shelters, which is near the city’s high…”
• A shelter for families in need of a push, By Julie Bosman, March 21, 2010, New York Times: “Denise Benson runs a no-nonsense, no-frills homeless shelter for the city in Queens. There is no common room for lounging and watching television. Most homeless families meet with their caseworkers several times a week. Staff members escort residents to job interviews and to tour available apartments. ‘We are here to say, ‘Move it along,” she said in a recent interview at the shelter, swinging her arms forward for emphasis. Ms. Benson is on the front lines of the Bloomberg administration’s unsuccessful war against homelessness. During the eight years that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has been in office, the number of homeless people filling city shelters has sharply risen, currently approaching 38,000, including 8,600 families with children. The number of families entering shelters has increased by more than 50 percent in the past two years. In February, 1,152 families entered shelters. More than 400 had been in the shelter system before…”

Homeless in America’s suburbs: More women, children, jobless struggle to find places to stay, By Frank Eltman (AP), February 16, 2010, Chicago Tribune: “Homelessness in rural and suburban America is straining shelters this winter as the economy founders and joblessness hovers near double digits - a ‘perfect storm of foreclosures, unemployment and a shortage of affordable housing,’ in one official’s eyes. ‘We are seeing many families that never before sought government help,’ said Greg Blass, commissioner of Social Services in Suffolk County on eastern Long Island. ‘We see a spiral in food stamps, heating assistance applications; Medicaid is skyrocketing,’ Blass added. ‘It is truly reaching a stage of being alarming.’ The federal government is again counting the nation’s homeless and, by many accounts, the suburban numbers continue to rise, especially for families, women, children, Latinos and men seeking help for the first time. Some have to be turned away…”

Demand overwhelms program to prevent homelessness, By Tony Pugh, January 12, 2010, Miami Herald: “In rural communities and urban areas alike, one of the least expensive and most unheralded new initiatives of the stimulus bill is quietly saving hundreds of thousands of Americans from homelessness. Now housing advocates want Congress to boost the program’s $1.5 billion funding as the vast need for more assistance becomes evident nationwide. The Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program is expected to help 600,000 people by moving some from homeless shelters into their own apartments and by providing rent payments to prevent others from being evicted. Because the assistance is temporary - usually for three months to 18 months - the program tries to target people who are most in need and can who can return to self-sufficiency within a few months…”

• Homeless kids: Young, invisible and largely forgotten, By Jeannette Rivera-Lyles, January 10, 2010, Orlando Sentinel: “Dymond Walker’s eyes sparkle when she talks about her future. Plan A, the 15-year-old says, is to be a veterinarian. Plan B is to work as an animal rescuer. Keeping those dreams alive is a daily struggle. Dymond and her two younger sisters, T’ara Pollins, 13, and Krystal Pollins, 11, and their mother, Shaneek Livingston, have been homeless for nine months. In that time, they have lived doubled up with a family of five, slept in a car for days and stayed in a walk-in closet with a twin bed. ‘My mom didn’t really sleep in the bed,’ Dymond said. ‘Sometimes there are three of us on the floor. We can’t curl up because the space is so tight. And it [was] hot, like 110 degrees,’ she said. The little family is the real, yet invisible face of homelessness in Osceola. According to a survey by the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida, the county has 1,885 homeless people. Nearly half of those, counts show, are school-age children. In Central Florida, Osceola has the highest percentage of school-age children in its homeless population, followed by Seminole County and then Orange County, according to Homeless Services Network. Missing from these tallies are homeless children too young to be in school. In Osceola, the only county where such estimates are available, including those youngsters raises the percentage of children to nearly two-thirds of the homeless population…”
• Boost in homelessness strains families, taxpayers, By Stacie N. Galang, January 11, 2010, Salem News: “It was as if an entire neighborhood showed up on Danvers’ doorstep. Shortly before Labor Day, school administrators and town officials began to fret. Student numbers were dramatically higher than spring estimates, at one point reaching 84. ‘Sort of within a two-week time frame, we saw enrollment increase,’ school Superintendent Lisa Dana said. What town leaders didn’t realize was that the state’s burgeoning homeless population had overwhelmed family shelters. With no space left, the state had started putting families up in motels. More than 100 homeless families had been sent to live temporarily in three Danvers motels: the Days Inn, Knights Inn and Motel 6. The families came from as close as Beverly and as far as Roxbury, but primarily from the region north of Boston. As the start of school neared, the motel parents considered their options: Enroll their children in Danvers schools or ask to have them bused to their home districts, an option provided to homeless families under federal law. Soon, town officials would estimate the costs at nearly a half-million dollars. Danvers was at the center of a perfect storm. The sour economy had forced up unemployment, adding to the number of evictions and foreclosures and helping to produce the largest increase in homeless families the state has seen in generations…”

Homeless families overwhelm shelters, By Marcus Green, December 7, 2009, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Shelters in Louisville and Southern Indiana say they are struggling to cope with an increase in homeless families - turning common areas into makeshift sleeping quarters, starting waiting lists, and, in some cases, turning people away. Advocates, school and shelter officials all say they fear family homelessness is reaching record levels here, and while it’s difficult to precisely quantify, they cite a variety of indications, which include…”

Homeless in Bangor, By Eric Russell, November 21, 2009, Bangor Daily News: “The signs of homelessness growing in Bangor are everywhere. They are just far enough off the beaten path to go unnoticed by many. People take shelter in makeshift camps under the Veterans’ Memorial Bridge. In the wooded area off Hammond Street known as The Pines. Inside jails and emergency rooms and the police station lobby. The trend is heart-wrenching and perpetual - and just might indicate the arrival of a perfect storm, according to experts. Bangor’s shelters are full. State and federal housing subsidies have either dried up or created unfathomable waiting lists. General assistance, which is supposed to be emergency and temporary funding, is stretched paper-thin. Additional social service cuts from the state seem imminent…”

• Mental Health Commission begins 5-year project to help homeless Canadians, Canadian Press, November 23, 2009, Brandon Sun: “A research project that takes homeless people with mental illness off the streets in five cities and provides them with a safe place to live was officially launched Monday, the first such effort by the new Mental Health Commission of Canada. The pilot study, called the At Home/Chez Soi project, involves 2,285 people who are homeless and living with a mental illness in five cities - Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver. Altogether, 1,325 people will be given a place to live and social services over the course of the five-year study, while the others will receive services that are currently available. One of the goals is to find out more about what works well in providing services to homeless people…”
• Research project gets mentally ill Canadians off the streets, By Laura Stone, November 23, 2009, Vancouver Sun: “Sandra Dawson woke up one morning with a bright idea. She would quit her job as a video editor in Vancouver, take all her money out of the bank and move to Seattle. There, she would have a revelation. It didn’t happen. Penniless, Dawson moved back after a few days to her mother’s basement - another manic episode that shook her once stable life…”

Hope in the battle against homelessness, By Neal Peirce, November 8, 2009, Denver Post: “Veterans of America’s recent wars left homeless; abused women and their children seeking nightly shelter; out-of-sight medical system costs; rising tides of bankruptcies. What do they have to do with each other - and America’s current health care debate? A lot, it turns out. By failing to guarantee a roof over every American’s head, we’ve failed the test - as Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan puts it - of ‘a civilized society.’ On a typical night, 650,000 Americans have no place to call home. We created this crisis ourselves, by the states emptying out their mental hospitals and cities demolishing thousands of low-income rental units. The result was a huge gap in affordable shelter. Plus, by failing to restrain medical system costs or guarantee care for all Americans, we’ve forced thousands of families to go into bankruptcy. Today, alarming numbers are being forced to take to the streets where their health is even more endangered by extremes of pelting rain or stone-cold nights, unsanitary conditions and sometimes violence. Yet as grim as all this sounds, it’s possible to see strong glimmers of light…”

Foreclosures force ex-homeowners to turn to shelters, By Peter S. Goodman, October 18, 2009, New York Times: “The first night after she surrendered her house to foreclosure, Sheri West endured the darkness in her Hyundai sedan. She parked in her old driveway, with her flower-print dresses and hats piled in boxes on the back seat, and three cherished houseplants on the floor. She used her backyard as a restroom. The second night, she stayed with a friend, and so it continued for more than a year: Ms. West - mother of three grown children, grandmother to six and great-grandmother to one - passed months on the couches of friends and relatives, and in the front seat of her car. But this fall, she exhausted all options. She had once owned and overseen a group home for homeless people. Now, she succumbed to that status herself, checking in to a shelter…”

Number of homeless students skyrockets in Central Florida, By Denise-Marie Balona, October 1, 2009, Orlando Sentinel: “The number of homeless children attending Central Florida’s public schools is soaring — further evidence that the weakened economy has hit this part of the state particularly hard. Across Florida, there were 41,286 homeless students in the 2008-09 school year, according to a new report from the Florida Department of Education. That’s a 20 percent jump over the previous year. The tally jumped much higher in Orange County — 36 percent — thanks in large part to the area’s economic and housing crises. It was one of the biggest increases among Florida’s largest counties. In Brevard and Lake, more than twice as many students as last year woke up and got ready for school in motel rooms, shelters, campgrounds and other forms of temporary housing…”

• Cutbacks pinch homeless programs, By Wendy Koch, August 24, 2009, USA Today: “The homeless are having more trouble getting help because of state budget cuts, and federal stimulus funding in September will fill only part of the gap, service providers for the homeless say…”
• New faces of homeless in D.C., By Leila Fadel, August 23, 2009, Seattle Times: “At 6 a.m., a block from the manicured lawns of the White House, Poppy Cali starts his days. Cali, 36, a Navy veteran, wakes up just after dawn, before security can find him sleeping on the steps of the General Services Administration building near the grate he uses to warm himself in the winter…”
• Nashville follows Denver’s lead in homelessness fight, By Angela Patterson, August 25, 2009, The Tennessean: “The Metropolitan Homelessness Commission wants to bring a little of what Denver learned to Nashville. The Mile High City created a 10-year plan to end homelessness called Denver’s Road Home. An accompanying partnership between the private and public sectors helped lower the city’s chronic homelessness rate by 36 percent…”
• Strategy goes beyond housing homeless, By Mark Price, August 24, 2009, Charlotte Observer: ” Project Hope - a groundbreaking program that could change the way Charlotte deals with homelessness - is expected to be unveiled tonight as part of a Charlotte City Council vote to back the project with nearly $2 million in federal stimulus money. Crafted to be a long-term solution rather than a quick fix, the program calls for pulling families and individuals from local shelters, putting them in rental apartments, and stabilizing their lives over 18 months with education, job skills, counseling and support from social workers and teams of volunteers…”

Poverty on the rise in county, By Betty Ridge, August 20, 2009, Tahlequah Daily Press: “While Americans hope, and many experts predict, that the recession is turning around and the economy heading upward, the head of one local agency dealing with poverty isn’t so optimistic. Tom Lewis, CEO of Project O-Si-Yo, said demand for the shelter, which currently provides temporary housing for up to 15 homeless men, has grown more than expected. Based on preliminary reports he has seen from the latest U.S. Census figures, he expects more men to come to 118 W. Keetoowah looking for a place to spend the night, or a new start in life. The new figures will be released shortly after Labor Day, Lewis said…”

Downturn brings a new face to homelessness, By Alexi Mostrous, August 15, 2009, Washington Post: “The lowest point in Lawanda Madden’s life came in February, when she woke up on the floor of her friend’s run-down house in this city battered by recession. She was shivering with cold. She remembers turning to her 8-year-old son, Jovon, and thinking: ‘How did this happen to us? How did we become homeless?’ Only 15 months before, Madden, 39, had a $35,000-a-year job, a two-bedroom apartment and a car. She was far from rich, but she could treat Jovon to the movies. She occasionally visited her sister in Chicago and bowled in a local league. She dreamed of going to law school. Then she was laid off and lost everything. ‘I’ve had a job since I was 19,’ she recalled. ‘I never imagined I would be without a home. You think it’s going to get better — that it’s just temporary — and then six months goes by, and you wonder, ‘Wait a minute — this might be it.” With neat hair and clean clothes, a college education and stable job history, Madden represents the new face of American homelessness…”

• Homeless families could face eviction over rules, By Julie Bosman, July 27, 2009, New York Times: “Homeless families can be kicked out of city shelters for repeatedly breaking rules like staying out past curfew or for refusing apartments offered to them, according to a tougher policy that takes effect Tuesday. The new policy gives the city greater latitude to push families out of the shelter system, which had swelled to a near-high of 9,720 families as of Sunday.  Families could always be evicted for illegal behavior like bringing in drugs or weapons, but they can now be ousted for any of 28 violations, including failing to sign in and out or not keeping an active case file with city welfare agencies…”
• City aids homeless with one-way tickets home, By Julie Bosman, July 28, 2009, New York Times: “They are flown to Paris ($6,332), Orlando ($858.40), Johannesburg ($2,550.70), or most frequently, San Juan ($484.20). They are not executives on business trips or couples on honeymoons. Rather, all are families who have ended up homeless, and all the plane tickets are courtesy of the city of New York (one-way).  The Bloomberg administration, which has struggled with a seemingly intractable problem of homelessness for years, has paid for more than 550 families to leave the city since 2007, as a way of keeping them out of the expensive shelter system, which costs $36,000 a year per family. All it takes is for a relative elsewhere to agree to take the family in…”

Number of babies in homeless shelters increasing, By Mike Clary, July 13, 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “At 5 weeks old, with a crown of dark hair and big blue eyes, Anastasia Garcia is one of the newest faces of the economic crisis. She was born homeless.  ‘When we are lucky enough to be settled, we will tell her that things were not always as easy as you may think,’ said Angela Garcia, 26, laying the infant down in a crib crammed into the corner of a small room at the Broward Outreach Center in Pompano Beach she shares with her husband David Henson and their two older daughters, ages 2 and 6…”

• Summer brings a wave of homeless families, By Julie Bosman, July 6, 2009, New York Times: “As the school year sailed to a close last month, Arielle Figueras crossed the stage in her cap and gown and proudly accepted her fifth-grade diploma.  The next day, she was homeless.  Arielle, a petite 11-year-old, and her parents, brother and sister packed their belongings and arrived at the intake center for homeless families in the South Bronx. Though they had been fighting with their landlord for months and their gas and electricity had long been shut off, they refused to leave their apartment while school was in session…”
• Homeless, and on a college path to independence, By Amanda M. Fairbanks, July 5, 2009, New York Times: “For many college students, survival means keeping up on assigned reading, maintaining an acceptable grade-point average and squeezing in extracurricular activities.  But for those at Advantage Academy, a program offered by the city’s Department of Homeless Services and St. John’s University to provide homeless and formerly homeless people with the chance to earn an associate’s degree, survival looks like something altogether different…”