The term "homeless" or "homeless individual or homeless person" includes-- (1) an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and (2) an individual who has a primary nighttime residence that is: A) a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill); B) an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or C) a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodations for human beings.
Our numbers continue to grow... |
Homelessness continues to grow at an alarming rate in the United States. Unfortunately, the country’s current economic condition places a significant number of families and individuals into this category each month. On any given night, approximately 750,000 men, women, and children are homeless in the United States.
* 56% are living in shelters and transitional housing, while 44% are unsheltered.
* 59% are single adults and 41% are persons living in families.
* 98,452 are homeless families
* 23% are chronically homeless according to HUD’s definition.
(Cunningham, Mary and Meghan Henry. 2007. Homelessness Counts. Washington, DC: National Alliance to End Homelessness.)
Over the course of a year, between 2.5 and 3.5 million people will live either on the streets or in an emergency shelter.
(Homelessness in the United States of America. Prepared by the National Alliance to End Homelessness.)
It is estimated that between 23 and 40 percent of homeless adults are veterans.
(See Rosenheck (1996) for an overview of homeless veterans estimates) (National Alliance to End Homelessness. Fact Checker: Veterans and Homelessness. November 2006.)
