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University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

Homelessness in the US

  • National homelessness: Oregon shows 50 percent drop in number of homeless since 2010, By Stuart Tomlinson, October 30, 2014, The Oregonian: “Oregon is one of 36 states where homelessness decreased between 2013 and 2014, according to the U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress. The report, released Thursday morning, is based on a single-night count made at the end of January of both sheltered and unsheltered homeless people. The Oregon count showed a decrease of 1,658 homeless people in 2014 from a year earlier. Oregon also saw a 38.2 percent decline in homeless people over the past 4 years, dropping from 19,492 people in 2010 to 12,164 in 2014…”
  • Homeless population in Mass. rising faster than any other state, By Katie Johnston, October 30, 2014, Boston Globe: “The homeless population in Massachusetts increased faster than in any other state in the nation, rising 40 percent since 2007 even as overall homelessness in the country declined, according to a report issued Thursday by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. But less than 4 percent of the homeless in Massachusetts live on the streets — one of the lowest rates in the country. Massachusetts is the only state in the country with a ‘right to shelter’ law that entitles every family to a roof over their heads the day they qualify for emergency housing. As a result, the vast majority of the state’s homeless population are in shelters or transitional housing…”
  • Nevada’s increase in homeless individuals largest in nation, By Yesenia Amaro, October 30, 2014, Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Twenty states saw an increase in the number of homeless individuals between 2013 and 2014, with Nevada experiencing the largest surge of 1,733 more individuals, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Homeless individuals are defined as people who are not part of a family during their episode of homelessness, according to the 2014 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress…”
  • Homelessness Rose in New York, By Tatiana Schlossberg, October 30, 2014, New York Times: “The number of homeless people living on the streets and in shelters across the country fell this year, according to an annual federal survey released on Thursday. But in New York City, the homeless population continued to grow, swelling in almost every category: individuals, families and the chronically homeless. The report on homelessness, from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is based on a nationwide ‘point-in-time’ survey conducted on a single night in January as part of the agency’s effort to track the homeless population over time and across the country…”