HUD: Number Of Homeless Down 12%

Government Agency Credits Federal, Local Programs With "Breaking A Vicious Cycle"

(AP)  The number of people in the United States who are chronically homeless dropped by nearly 12 percent from 2005 to 2006, according to government estimates being released Wednesday.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, credited government programs designed to move homeless people into permanent housing.

"HUD and local communities are increasingly providing permanent housing solutions and breaking a vicious cycle of homelessness for those who have lived on the streets as a way of life," department Secretary Alphonso Jackson said in a statement.

The department says people are chronically homeless if they have been continuously living on the streets for a year or more, or if they have been homeless at least four times in the past three years. They also have a disability, often mental illness, or substance abuse.

The number of chronically homeless people dropped from 175,900 in 2005 to 155,600 in 2006, according to data collected from about 3,900 cities and counties.

Earlier this year, the housing department estimated there were 754,000 homeless people on a given night in January 2005. The overall estimate for 2006 is expected early next year.

The homeless are difficult to count, though HUD started requiring housing agencies to try in 2005. The agencies are required to count their local homeless populations every other year, although about 60 percent do it annually.

The 2006 estimate for people who were chronically homeless was based on annual data from agencies that conduct the counts each year.

Advocates for the homeless said they expected a decrease on the national level, given the government's increasing emphasis on permanent housing instead of temporary shelters.

"In the past few years, there has been a significant investment in ending chronic homelessness, both in time and resources," said Mary Cunningham, director of the Homelessness Research Institute at the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

"Communities across the country are really working hard on this issue," she said. "It would be a major disappointment if the numbers were not going down."

HUD has been shifting resources from emergency shelters to transitional and permanent housing for years. The number of emergency shelter beds dropped by 35 percent from 1996 to 2005, to 217,900, while the number of beds in permanent housing for the homeless increased by 83 percent, to 208,700.

The department spent $287 million last year on programs that serve people who are chronically homeless, creating 4,000 permanent housing units, the agency said.

[keithle1]

That''s good. Something is working.

A lot of homeless people have serious mental illness like schizophrenia. Once they stop taking their medication, it''s difficult to deal with those folks.

[one_american]

Liberals keep crying: "the sky is falling!".

Nobody believes you anymore, moonbats.

[jacksteen1]

OF COURSE there are fewer homeless human wrecks in our urban areas - THEY HAVE ALL DIED OF AIDS, PNEUMONIA, AND CRACK ABUSE.

The filthy Republishit Party is to be thanked for this - and for emptying the state loonie bins and tightening up on veteran''s hospitals since the days of Ronny Ragoon.

They will soon be sent back home to answer for their crimes and all the troubles they brought upon our land...can''t wait for President Hillary''s Inauguration!!

[jetranger7]

Ya, theres something a miss with this report all together !! Lets see, thousands are losing their Homes to foreclosure, thousands have been laid off from their jobs, many have crossed our borders and can''t find work, and this Government agency puts out a message like this, Gimme a Break !!! Lies, lies, followed by more lies and rhetoric ! reminds me of those Weapons of mass destruction that were never found !!!!! same ol'', same ol'' rhetoric, simply put, its "BS" !!

[terrapin78]

How many caught up in sub-prime mortgages are homeless?

As with anything out of the Bu$h mis-Administration, do not take this report at face value. It will prove to be BS.

Spin and lies!

[s1ckd09]

Screw HUD! They don''''t count people who are hidden homeless, like me (a sober, law-abiding college grad with a useful major but long-term job discrimination BTW), stuck in someone else''''s home.
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Posted by maiingan at 10:56 AM : Nov 07, 2007

Wow... you must be the world''s most selfish person. You claim to be "homeless" because you have live in a home you don''t own? What is your "long term job discrimination?"

[s1ckd09]

1. The government says unemployment is 4.7%! Truth: Have you ever visited an unemployment office lately?
2. {Too long to be quoted in this comment}
3. The numbers of homeless are down! Truth: Tell that to the people losing their homes thru foreclosure and deceptive mortgage practices. Tell that to the volunteers working the soup kitchens!
4. Troop deaths in Iraq are down! Truth: 2007 was the worst year yet for American troop deaths in Iraq...
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Posted by walt1944 at 12:12 PM : Nov 07, 2007

I love it when idiots like you post stuff like this. *** the actual numbers! It''s perception that matters! LOL!
#1 You offer as PROOF of the 4.7% unemployment rate as being false the fact that there are still people in an unemployemnt office? That''s hillarious!

#3 You offer as PROOF that the number of homeless is down the fact that there are still homeless people. Duh! Nobody claimed 0 homeless, moron!
#4 The troop deaths ARE down, the last three months have a been in steady decline. Therefore, troop deaths are down. The YEAR''s total means NOTHING as far as trends are concerned, and the trend is declining troop deaths. It''s also ironic that you put full faith in the government''s numbers when it shows BAD news about anything... Why is that?

[walt1944-2009]

ANY numbers generated from the federal government should, at the most, be regarded with a lot of skepticism.

Examples?

1. The government says unemployment is 4.7%! Truth: Have you ever visited an unemployment office lately?
2. The government says the economy is in great shape! Truth: The dollar is weak and getting weaker by the day, almost all our manufacturing and half our white collar jobs are outsourced, we are trillions of weakened dollars in debt (mostly to China!), the rich are A LOT RICHER, the middle class is almost history and the country''s infrastructure is falling apart.
3. The numbers of homeless are down! Truth: Tell that to the people losing their homes thru foreclosure and deceptive mortgage practices. Tell that to the volunteers working the soup kitchens!
4. Troop deaths in Iraq are down! Truth: 2007 was the worst year yet for American troop deaths in Iraq and Iraqi civilians are being killed at the rate of 75/day! Hundreds of US soldiers are coming back badly wounded to sloppy medical care and NO VA benefits!

The list goes on!

And the Great Emperor Bush II is concerned about his "legacy" and that of the GOP to history!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!

[talkingham]

This is ridiculous. I doubt these folks from HUD ever talk a walk in an urgan area beyond their local suburban malls.

Where I work in a medium sized southern city the honeless are thicker than flies and you pan-handled over and over again by the sam bums and louses with their "I need money to get gas (wine or MD20/20), or money to catch a bus (to get to their closest crack dealer,bus to the next liquor store, park, or golf course they sleep in around here). More contrived Bush admin stats to paint a rosy pic for the repugs.

[maiingan]

Screw HUD! They don''t count people who are hidden homeless, like me (a sober, law-abiding college grad with a useful major but long-term job discrimination BTW), stuck in someone else''s home.

[rushman71]

I do wish that the number would decrease within the city of Houston, Tx. But that''s not going to happen anytime soon. Why? Because most the bums you see love to walk around and beg for change, then go over to Goodwill or Salvation Army for their free meals. Hey, what more could you ask for!!!

[antoniof123]

Oh please where do they come up with this. The number of mentally challenged is growing on the streets. Please show me how you got this 12 percent decrease. Maybe it is the same way they calculate inflation. They leave out housing and gas and all of the things that would truly show how bad inflation really is.

God they will pull numbers out of a hat to say hey look at what we did. But the truth is you did nothing. No more fooling us....

[ianlou]

I''ld like to see the stats on numbers of Americans moving in with parents and siblings. Where did all the American families go when they lost their homes to the mortage crunch?