adminThe downturn in the economy and a lack of local resources have forced more Americans to live under bridges, in their cars and on the couches of other family members, according to a recent report on hunger and homelessness.The 25-city survey, conducted by the United States Conference of Mayors, found that more than 20 percent of homeless people that needed help over the past year didn’t get it and 71 percent of the survey cities reported that their emergency shelters, stretched to capacity, had to turn homeless families with children away.
The US Conference of Mayors is a non-partisan group that represents 1 398 American cities with populations of 30 000 or more.
According to a 2012 report by the Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness, black families depended on homeless shelters at a rate that was seven times higher than white families.
A majority of the cities surveyed reported that unemployment, rising housing costs, and substance abuse contributed to higher homelessness rates.
Although blacks often abuse illegal drugs at similar rates as Whites, Blacks suffer discrimination in housing and hiring that often affects how and where they live.
The Labour Department reported that the jobless rate for blacks (12.5 percent) was more than twice as high as the rate for whites (6.2 percent) in November 2013.
Homeless adults often presented with one or more of the following characteristics: 30 percent of homeless adults were severely mentally ill, 19 percent had jobs, 17 percent were physically disabled and 16 percent were victims of domestic violence. Thirteen percent of homeless adults were war veterans and three percent were HIV positive.
The survey cities also reported that unemployment was the greatest contributor to the rise in hunger, followed by low wages and poverty. Increased food insecurity has strained local resources beyond capacity.
“Across the survey cities, emergency food assistance requests increased by an average of seven percent,” stated the report. Eighty-three percent of the survey cities said that more families requested emergency food assistance in 2012 than 2011.
More than 25 percent of black households don’t have enough to eat. Ten percent of white families live with food insecurity issues.
Even though the survey cities spent US$324 million and dispersed more than half a billion pounds of food, two-thirds of the cities reported turning people away, because they couldn’t keep up with the growing demand.
More than 70 percent of the survey cities said that they expect the hunger problem to get worse next year because of limited resources.
“The problem is more expensive than the solutions,” said Laura Zeilinger, deputy director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.
When Washington lawmakers left town for Christmas break, they left more than a million people who depend on unemployment benefits in the lurch.
The deal left unemployment benefits on the cutting room floor, which means that a few days after Christmas more than a million people will lose their unemployment benefits, pushing some into poverty.
According to the Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities, a public policy group focused on fiscal policy and public programmes that affect low- and moderate-income families and individuals, roughly 1.3 million people currently receiving unemployment insurance will be cut off shortly after the Christmas holiday.
In six months, almost two million people will lose their unemployment benefits.
“In order to meet the growing needs of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens, some city officials have augmented nutrition education programmes and expanded the health food offerings at food banks in our neighbourhoods and cities large and small across America.”— LA Sentinel.
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