Homelessness in America - A Perfect Storm

An unexpected deluge in homelessness could occur in America, far exceeding any resources available to meet the demand.  In addition to the traditional causes of homelessness, several new factors may combine to create a "perfect storm" of homelessness in 2008:

• Home foreclosures from the subprime mortgage financial crisis - which hasn't peaked yet ─ forclosure victims, who once could have afforded to pay rent, now cannot pass a credit check,
• The ensuing credit crunch, reducing availability of new loans even to the creditworthy,
• Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, some with broken families, mental health problems, and physical disabilities,
• Skyrocketing energy and health-care bills,
• Stagnant wages for the low and middle classes, ensnaring greater numbers of working poor.

Homelessness in America will likely increase as a result of these new factors combining with the traditional causes of homelessness.

Homelessness in America may explode at a time when resources to help the needy are at a low. Many donors feel drained from Katrina and other national disasters, and from campaign giving. We have seen recent reports of shortages at food banks, including those in San Francisco(donations down 15%), New York City(worst food shortage in years), and Denver (due to a 27% increase in foreclosures).

The traditional causes of homelessness have not been adequately addressed.  The US Conference of Mayors prioritized these causes in a 2003 Hunger and Homelessness Survey (in order by decreasing number of cities for which each factor was a major cause):
    • Lack of affordable housing,
    • Mental illness or the lack of needed services,
    • Low-paying jobs,
    • Substance abuse and the lack of needed services,
    • Unemployment,
    • Domestic violence,
    • Poverty, and
    • Prison release.

Exacerbating these traditional causes of homelessness, however, are several new forces that weren't quite so bad back in 2003.

Hunger and Homelessness Intensify in US Cities - By Debra Watson

12/31/07 "WSW" - - The number of people hungry and homeless in US cities rose dramatically again in 2007, according to the annual report on hunger and homelessness from the US Conference of Mayors. The 23-city Hunger and Homelessness Survey was released in late December.

City officials said specific factors exacerbating hunger over the past year were the foreclosure crisis, the high prices of food and gasoline, and the lack of affordable housing. Decreased social benefits such as public assistance and the eroding value of food stamps were also listed as particularly acute problems. Lack of donated food and commodities and insufficient funding were listed as the most important reason for turning away the hungry.

Economic issues such as unemployment and poverty along with high housing and medical costs were most cited by responding cities as the major causes of chronic hunger. Substance abuse and mental illness were the least cited.

In addition to the foreclosure crisis, rising energy costs, sky-rocketing health-care costs, and the insidious erosion of employee compensation - factors that increasingly affect many hard-working Americans - a large number of our returning veterans are in danger of becoming homeless.

From the Veteran’s Administration site, http://www1.va.gov/...:

23% of the homeless population are veterans.

The U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) says the nation's homeless veterans are mostly males (4 % are females). The vast majority are single, most come from poor, disadvantaged communities, 45% suffer from mental illness, and half have substance abuse problems. America’s homeless veterans have served in World War II, Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), Operation Iraqi Freedom, or the military’s anti-drug cultivation efforts in South America.

A perfect storm refers to the simultaneous occurrence of events which combine to cause far more damage than would be expected by summing the individual forces.  We may very well face an explosion in homelessness in America.  Conditions are pregnant for a perfect storm.

Please check out the nationwide statistics in the January 2007 Homelessness Count compiled by the National Alliance to End Homelessness.  Thank you!