Our Homeless Crisis: A close look at homelessness in Oregon starts this weekend, By Anna Griffin, January 16, 2016, The Oregonian: “This weekend, we’ll publish the first story in a project that started last spring with a question, one readers ask anytime The Oregonian/OregonLive.com writes about poverty, panhandling or illegal camps: Is homelessness worse in Portland, or does it just feel that way? To find out, reporter Anna Griffin interviewed national experts, elected officials, nonprofit organizers, advocates for the poor, social workers, police officers, doctors, volunteers and dozens of men and women who are either homeless now or recently got indoors. She and visual journalists Thomas Boyd and Dave Killen visited shelters, soup kitchens, day centers and illegal homeless camps. In all, they interviewed more than 100 people. They’re still reporting – and want your input. The answer about Portland is as complicated as the reasons people end up on the streets…”
Tag: Homeless families
Homelessness in the US
- New York’s rise in homelessness went against national trend, U.S. report finds, By Nikita Stewart, November 19, 2015, New York Times: “The federal government’s annual homelessness count showed an increase in New Yorkers living on the streets or in shelters, even as the number of homeless people nationwide dipped slightly compared with the previous year. The results of the count, released on Thursday by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, confirmed what many New Yorkers had already recognized, particularly in recent months — that homelessness was rising and that more government action was needed…”
- Homelessness ticks downward across US, despite local crises, By Corey Fedde, November 20, 2015, Christian Science Monitor: “The number of people experiencing homelessness in the United States dipped slightly this year, according to federal data released Thursday. A Housing and Urban Development (HUD) study found 565,000 people – roughly a quarter of them children – were homeless in the US during a point-in-time survey conducted in January. The number reflects a two percent decrease from 2014, and an 11 percent drop since 2007. While the downward trend, however slight, is promising, advocates are cautious to celebrate declines just yet…”
- New data show homelessness dropped early this year, HUD says, but problems persist, By Lisa Rein, November 20, 2015, Washington Post: “New figures released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development Thursday show that 564,708 people were homeless on a night in January of this year, a 2 percent drop from 2014. HUD officials said the decline, of a total of 11 percent since 2007, is an encouraging sign that the Obama administration is succeeding in its five-year-old goal of preventing and ending homelessness and ending what the government calls chronic homelessness by 2017…”
Evictions and Homelessness – New York City
NYC to target evictions in bid to curb homelessness, By Josh Dawsey, September 28, 2015, Wall Street Journal: “As Mayor Bill de Blasio struggles to control rising homelessness in New York, the city plans to hire more lawyers to help financially stressed residents avoid eviction—especially in neighborhoods that are quickly gentrifying. By mid-2017, the city will be spending $60 million annually—up from about $34 million now—on an expanded legal team to address the flow of homeless into an already overburdened shelter system and the number of people living on the streets. The city has found that about 32% of the families in its shelters were evicted from their homes…”