  |
Facts About
Homelessness
(updated April 2007)
When you think
about a homeless person, do you think about…
-
A single
mother making minimum wage who loses the struggle to afford
rent, childcare, transportation and food
-
A family
whose father suffers a debilitating illness and is unable to
work
-
A man who
suffers from mental illness without the resources for treatment
-
A child who
ages out of the foster care system at age 18
-
A family
with children living paycheck to paycheck when the mother is
laid off
-
A young man
caught up in the despair of drug and alcohol addictions
-
A woman
escaping an abusive relationship with nothing but the clothes on
her back
-
A man who
because he is homeless without an address, phone number, clean
clothes, a place to shower and food can’t not secure gainful
employment despite having needed skills
-
A elderly
couple living on a fixed income facing rising rents, insurance,
and medication costs
-
A family
living in their car because the apartment they struggled to
afford has been converted to condos; the parents terrified they
will lose their children
All these
situations are true; real people who have become homeless in
Hillsborough County.
While most
people have only one picture of what homelessness is – there is no
“one” type of homeless person. Homeless people are men, women, and
children, families and individuals, young and old, full-time workers
and unemployed, with and without addiction and/or mental illness.
Homelessness crosses all lines – racial, religious, class, ethnic
and culture – and affects everyone.
Causes of
Homelessness
Homelessness is
more than just being without a house. The vast majority of homeless
people are actually entangled in one or more struggles that threaten
their self-sufficiency.
While there is
no one single cause of homelessness, the biggest contributing factor
to the rising number of homelessness is the shortage of
affordable housing for people with limited incomes.
-
low-paying
job
-
unemployment
-
lack of
needed services
-
domestic
violence
-
drug and
alcohol addiction
-
insufficient education
-
poverty
-
family
breakup
-
physical
and mental illness
-
catastrophic illness
-
disasters
(i.e. fires/storms)
-
death of a
family member
Homelessness
in Hillsborough County
The 2007
Hillsborough County Homeless Coalition Homeless Census, conducted on
January 25, 2007, a cold and rainy day in Hillsborough County,
found:
-
9,532 men,
women and children are homeless in Hillsborough County.
-
16 percent
are children (a 48% increase in 2 years)
-
63 percent
are male; 37 percent are female
-
47 percent
are Caucasian
-
32 percent
are African-American
-
12 percent
are Hispanic
-
18 percent
are veterans
-
56 percent
have a source of income
-
Of the 56
percent with income, 37 percent are employed
-
23 percent
have drug and alcohol addictions
-
18 percent
suffer from mental illness
-
1 percent
have the HIV/AIDS virus
-
28 percent
have a physical disability
-
91 percent
became homeless in Florida
-
43 percent
are experiencing homelessness for the first time
-
25 percent
have been homeless at least 4 times
-
There are
enough services in Hillsborough County to help ONLY 15 percent
of homeless men, women and children living in the Count.
This means 8,000 homeless people can not find shelter on any
given night.
-
More than
1,500 children attending Hillsborough County Public Schools were
homeless on the day of the homeless census.
Homelessness
in Florida
The Florida
Department of Children and Families’ Office on Homelessness 2005
Report on Homeless Conditions in Florida, states that in Florida…
-
83,391
people are homeless; this number does not include people who
became homeless because of the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes
-
Homelessness has tripled since 1991 from 28,000 to 83,391
-
There are
fewer than 4 beds for every 10 people who are homeless in
Florida
-
38 percent
of the homeless population is families
-
Minor
children represent 25 percent of the total number of homeless
people in Florida
-
35 percent
of homeless people are children
-
8 percent
of homeless people are over 60 years old
-
84 percent
of homeless families are headed by a single mother
-
48 percent
have never been homeless before
-
46 percent
have been homeless for less than 3 months
-
Only 25
percent of homeless people in Florida have been homeless for
more than a year
-
39 percent
are employed, 18 percent full time
Homelessness
in the United States
The US
Conference of Mayors’ 2006 Status Report on Hunger and
Homelessness found that in the United States:
-
30 percent of the homeless population is families
with children
-
51
percent are single men
-
17
percent are single women
-
2
percent are unaccompanied minors
-
71
percent of homeless families are headed by a single parent
-
13
percent are employed
-
9
percent are veterans
-
26 percent have drug and alcohol
addictions
-
16
percent suffer from mental illness
-
37
percent of adults requesting emergency food assistance are
employed
-
People
remain homeless an average of 8 months
-
Requests
for assisted housing by low-income families and individuals
increased by 86 percent in 1 year.
A 2004 study
done by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty states
that approximately 3.5 million people, 1.35 million of them
children, are likely to experience homelessness in a given year
|
