Homeless People Down, But Homeless Families Up in America

The total number of homeless people in Washington, D.C. as well as the rest of our nation dropped slightly between 2008 and 2009. However, thanks to our recent recession, the number of homeless families increased That’s the conclusion of the 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, a yearly study by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development designed to measure the scope of homelessness across the country.

HUD’s latest report finds that 643,000 persons were homeless on a given night in 2009 while roughly 1.56 million people, or one in every 200 Americans, spent at least one night in a shelter during 2009. While the total estimated number of persons who experience homelessness as individuals declined by 5 percent, the number of homeless families increased for the second straight year. Read more of this post