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Number of homeless families increasing
11th of September 2009
The recession has had a profound impact on marginally housed local families. For evidence, look no further than SBY’s emergency shelter, the Sasha Bruce House, which has seen increasing numbers of youth seeking respite in the past year.
It is difficult to determine the number of runaway and homeless youth in the District of Columbia, but knowledgeable estimates indicate that the problem is substantial. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments takes an annual “snapshot” of homeless persons in order to quantify the problem. In 2007 the point-in-time number was 5,757, and that number can be expected to have increased because of the economic situation.
The need for the services provided to homeless youth outstrips our ability to meet that need. We have seen an increase in families breaking up and youth seeking shelter. It is now routine for the population of our residents to go beyond our bed capacity of 10, with residents sleeping on cots. In addition to the increase in numbers of clients this past fiscal year, shelter staff have remarked on large increases in “truly homeless” teens, as opposed to runaways, and in older teenagers.
The Census Bureau this week relased national statistics which show that one in five youth now live below the poverty level, and the forecast for the immediate future is bleak. Read the Post’s story here