New York City, like other major U.S. cities, uses a count of people living on its streets and alleys, parks and subways to estimate program needs, allocate resources and educate the public on issues facing the poorest residents. The tally is also critical for accessing federal funding to tackle homelessness. Critics say it grossly undercounts…
“There’s a moral obligation to serve those who have served us,” said Loree Sutton, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Veterans’ Affairs. “We are committed to solving the homelessness crisis (and) we are prioritizing veterans and their families.” The city will begin giving veterans first preference for affordable housing units offered to the homeless. They’ll also…
Public officials and charity volunteers scrambled to bring thousands of homeless people in out of the storm Monday night in New York City, Boston, and smaller, harder-hit inland cities around New England. It doesn’t take a big storm for winter to kill homeless individuals. Hypothermia can set in at temperatures well above freezing, and many cities don’t…
The pit stop program — which just completed a six-month pilot and is expected to be expanded and extended Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors — offers what at last could be a solution. “It’s private, it’s clean, it has a sink, it has soap, it has seat covers, it has paper towels, it has a…
The Los Angeles homeless census is underway in the shelters and streets of L.A. County this week. Beginning Tuesday, 6,000 volunteers will head out over three nights to get a sense of how the county’s’ homeless population has changed in the past two years. Read More
La Times reports that over the last two years, street encampments have jumped their historic boundaries in downtown Los Angeles, lining freeways and filling underpasses from Echo Park to South Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, a city-county agency, received 767 calls about street encampments in 2014, up 60% from the 479 in…
This report documents the increasing criminalization of homelessness in the United States, focusing on municipal laws banning sleeping and storing personal possessions in public areas, “camping,” begging, loitering and even feeding homeless persons. It points out that not only do these laws not address the causes or promote programs to end homelessness, they are in…
Ezzie Richey, a 57-year-old homeless veteran, was one of those who was given a duffel bag containing over 60 items, like food, blankets, clothing and toiletries. He not only was grateful for the bag, but for the love and hope that came with it. The moment so influenced his life that he is now off…
Shanty towns, built by the homeless during the Great Depression, were popularly named Hooverville’s, after blame for the nation’s depression was placed squarely on the shoulders of President Herbert Hoover. The term tent city is used to describe a variety of temporary housing facilities that often use tents. Authorized and unauthorized tent cities, created by…
Huffington Post (December 24, 2014) Across the United States, local governments are moving to prevent outdoor camping by the homeless, according to advocates for the nation’s nearly 600,000 homeless, estimated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development … Over a third of U.S. cities impose cit