Hope Ministries – Homeless

Homeless Information

Thank you for your interest in learning more about the homeless. This page provides articles, research, surveys and internet links to various websites to increase awareness.

ARTICLES – SURVEYS – STATISTICS & STUDIES – INTERNET LINKS

AGRM (Association of Gospel Rescue Missions)

Articles:
Stars and Stripes Mideast edition
Eight Ways to Help the Homeless
Iowa General Assembly Proclamation
The 2000 Census

Statistics & Studies:
Statistics & Studies Link
The 1999 State Survey on Homelessness
2006 Snap Shot Survey of the Homeless
Homeless Veterans Survey – Nov. 9, 2006
2005 Iowa Homeless Study

AGRM (Association of Gospel Rescue Missions): a worldwide organization of rescue missions and other faith-based services to the homeless. Hope Ministries is an AGRM member. Of special interest is the Homeless Information page, which includes stories, statistics and other useful information.

Eight Ways to Help The Homeless: a helpful page on the AGRM website which discusses how to react when a homeless person asks you for assistance.

The 1999 State Survey on Homelessness: the most recent comprehensive survey on the plight of the homeless in the state of Iowa. You may be surprised to find out that family units (many of which are single moms with kids) are a significant number of today's homeless. Hope Ministries is looking at ways to address that need more fully.

By Leo Shane III
Stars and Stripes Mideast edition
Military.com

WASHINGTON — Advocates for the homeless already are seeing veterans from the war on terror living on the street, and say the government must do more to ease their transition from military to civilian life.

Linda Boone, executive director of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, said about 70 homeless veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan contacted her group's facilities in 2004, and another 125 homeless veterans from those conflicts last year petitioned the Department of Veterans Affairs for assistance.

“It's not a big wave, but it's an indicator that we still haven't done our job,” she said. “I think that our nation would be very embarrassed if they knew that.”

The group, founded in 1990, is a national network of charitable organizations designed to provide resources and aid for homeless veterans.

Veterans Affairs officials estimate that about 250,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, and another 250,000 experience homelessness at some point.

Boone said the reasons behind the veterans' housing problems are varied: Some have emotional and mental issues from their combat experience, some have trouble finding work after leaving the military, some have health care bills which result in financial distress.

George Basher, director of the New York State Department of Veterans Affairs, said he believes guardsmen and reservists are particularly at risk because they often bypass resources like the Transition Assistance Program when they return home.

“Those are the ones most likely to have private health insurance, so they're likely to show up at an HMO looking for treatment and not a VA hospital,” he said. “There's no central place for treatment.”

Still, Pete Dougherty, coordinator for the Veterans' Affairs Department's homeless programs, said veterans today have more options — outpatient facilities, counselors, job training programs — than the troops returning from the Vietnam War.

“Most of the folks we're seeing now are worried about losing their homes and think they won't be able to afford to stay in them,” he said. “Before, the vets were out there but were unseen and unnoticed. Now we can reach out and make a difference sooner.”

But Boone added that most veterans don't seek help for mental and emotional problems for years after their return from combat, meaning the problem of homelessness among war on terror veterans will likely grow.

“We're still going to have homeless veterans because we haven't tackled how to deal with the separation issue,” she said.

For more information on resources for homeless veterans, call (800) VET-HELP or visit www.nchv.org.

©2005 Stars & Stripes. All opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of Military.com.

On average, single men comprise 41% of the homeless populations, families with children 40%, single women 14% and unaccompanied minors 5%
Requests for shelter by homeless families alone increased by 13%
Requests for emergency food assistance increased by an average of 14%
On average, people remain homeless for 8 months
On average of 23% of homeless people are mentally ill; 30% are substance abusers; 17% are employed; and 10% are veterans
The average demand for emergency shelter increased by 6%
56% of the people requesting emergency food assistance were members of families - children and their parents

(Source: U.S. Conference of Mayors report, December 2004)

Iowa General Assembly Proclamation

House Concurrent Resolution 15
Iowa Homeless Awareness Week
November 13-19, 2005

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. BY FALLON, BERRY, BUKTA, COHOON, DANDEKAR,DAVITT, FOEGE, FORD, FREVERT, HEDDENS, HUNTER, JACOBY, JOCHUM, KRESSIG, KUHN, LENSING, LYKAM, MASCHER, MERTZ, MILLER, MURPHY, OLDSON, D. OLSON, R. OLSON, PETERSEN, PETTENGILL, REICHERT, SCHUELLER, SHOMSHOR, SMITH, SWAIM, D. TAYLOR, T. TAYLOR, THOMAS, WENDT, WESSEL-KROESCHELL, WHITAKER, WHITEAD, WISE, and ZIRKELBACH

A Concurrent Resolution designating November 13 through 19, 2005, as Iowa Homeless Awareness Week.
WHEREAS, the Iowa Homelessness Study conducted in 2001 concluded that over 18,000 homeless people, with 4,300 in Des Moines alone, and over 7,000 near-homeless people live in Iowa;
and WHEREAS, the 2001 report indicates that nearly 60 percent of those homeless and near-homeless people are children, over 11 percent of those homeless and near- homeless people are less than five years of age, and unaccompanied children represent more than 10 percent of the homeless population;
and WHEREAS, 82 percent of the homeless and 90 percent of the near-homeless single adult households with children are headed by a woman;
and WHEREAS, family breakup, potential utility disconnection, and job loss are consistently the leading causes of homelessness;
and WHEREAS, Iowa's homeless and near-homeless people exist in rural and urban areas, and in low-poverty and high-poverty communities;
and WHEREAS, the poverty level population is defined bythe federal poverty line, $19,350 in income for a family of four, which equates roughly to between 30 percent and 50 percent of the median income in most Iowa counties;
and WHEREAS, the lack of living wage jobs and affordable housing are reported as the most significant barriers to resolving homelessness in every type of community, and long-term economic solutions that create living wage jobs and affordable housing seem necessary to solve this crisis;
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, THE SENATE CONCURRING, That the General Assembly designates the week of November 13 through 19, 2005, as Iowa Homeless Awareness Week, and invites the citizens of Iowa to increase their awareness of the causes of homelessness and seek to implement solutions to homelessness; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the General Assembly requests that the Governor issue a proclamation calling upon the people of Iowa to observe Iowa Homeless Awareness Week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

The 2000 Census

The 2000 Census pegged the number of homeless people at 170,700, but it was widely considered an undercount.

Government: 754,000 People Are Homeless

Emergency Shelters Typically 90 Percent Full, Report Says

WASHINGTON -- The nation has three-quarters of a million homeless people, filling emergency shelters through the year and spilling into special seasonal shelters in the coldest months, the government said Wednesday. The Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated there were 754,000 homeless people in 2005, including those living in shelters, transitional housing and on the street. That's about 300,000 more people than available beds in shelters and transitional housing. The report is the government's latest attempt to count people who are notoriously difficult to track. The estimate is similar to one by an advocacy group in January.

The 2000 Census pegged the number of homeless people at 170,700, but it was widely considered an undercount. In 1996, the Urban Institute used data collected by the Census Bureau to estimate there were between 640,000 and 840,000. Housing officials hope the new report will serve as a starting point to more accurately measure changes in the homeless population.

"Understanding homelessness is a necessary step to ending it, especially for those persons living with a chronic condition such as mental illness, an addiction, or a physical disability," HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson wrote in the report. HUD developed the estimate using data collected by local agencies that serve the homeless. Agencies across the country tried to count the number of people living on the street one night in January 2005. The agencies also collected information about race, gender, and disability status from people staying in emergency shelters and transitional housing from February to April 2005.

Among the findings for people in shelters and transitional housing:
• Nearly half were single adult men.
• Nearly a quarter were minors.
• Less than 2 percent were older than 65.
• About 59 percent were members of minority groups.
• About 45 percent were black.
• About a quarter had a disability, though experts said the percentage is probably much higher.

The Urban Institute recently did a study on homeless people in Santa Monica, Calif., and found only 6 percent of those using services for the homeless did not have a mental illness or a substance abuse problem, said Martha Burt, a researcher at the institute. Emergency shelters are more than 90 percent full on average nights, the report said. They would be over capacity if not for seasonal shelters. By comparison, less than three-quarters of transitional housing units for families are occupied on an average night. 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. Meanwhile, the number of transitional housing beds increased by 38 percent during the same period, to 220,400. The number of beds in permanent supported housing increased by 83 percent, to 208,700. "We ought to be looking for ways to move people from shelters into permanent housing," said Nan Roman, president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

"Building shelter beds doesn't result in these people being housed," Roman said. "But clearly, short of housing, everybody should have a roof over their head. This points out that we are not there, either."