Homelessness Updates for April : Rapid Rises in Lower Middle Income Families Effected.......

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From the USA article today :
"Cities and counties are reporting a sharp increase in homeless families as the economic crisis leads to job loss and makes housing unaffordable.In Seattle, 40% more people are living on suburban streets. In Miami, calls from people with eviction notices have quadrupled."The demand from families with children has increased dramatically," says Robert Hess of New York City's Department of Homeless Services. Each month since September, shelter requests have been at least 20% higher than they were a year ago.The Department of Housing and Urban Development requires a one-day count in January of people living on the street, in shelters or in transitional housing. National figures have not been compiled."

** ( Okay- someone will have to explain to me WHY the DHHS only does ONE ONE Day Count ??? I do know in the Beginning of January I went to the DHHS website for Information on Homelessness- and there was ONLY one page- and NO Stats had been updated since....wait for it.....yes, the 2000 Census....So that means that NO ONE has Counted Real People- the Homeless for NINE years.....)****

Of 56 places where figures were available, 35 reported an increase in homelessness; 12 had a drop.

***** ( For anyone that reads about Shelter Numbers, remember these are numbers of those at the Shelters, what we really need is how many are turned away.)****

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"People who were on the edge can't hold on anymore," says Cathy ten Broeke homelessness project coordinator in Minneapolis and Hennepin County. She says 1,251 families sought emergency shelter last year, up from 1,032 in 2007.

• In Chicago, calls to a homelessness prevention hotline were 59% higher in February than a year earlier, says Nancy Radner, head of the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness. "We're getting requests from people earning more than $30,000 a year, even $65,000. That's unprecedented."
• In Los Angeles, 620 families used the winter shelter program this winter, compared with 330 families a year earlier, manager David Martel says.
• In the Phoenix area, 230 people in families were living on the street in January; there were 49 a year ago. There were 139 children younger than 18 living on the street on their own, according to the Maricopa Association of Governments.
• In Miami-Dade County, the number of people calling for help after getting an eviction notice jumped from 1,000 in 2007 to 4,000 last year, David Raymond of the county's Homeless Trust says. "We've beefed up our prevention efforts," he says, so fewer people become homeless.
• In the Seattle area, street homelessness increased 2% overall but 40% in the suburbs, where the number living in cars rose from 229 last year to 339, homelessness project director Bill Block says.

****** ( Seattle is where the Mayor has been less than gracious about Homeless Issues and harsh on the Tent Cities, so they now name they Nickelsville's to honor his "compassion" )****