One in 30 American Children Are Homeless

A new state-by-state report finds racial disparities, increasing poverty and domestic violence responsible for the rise in homelessness and the estimation that one in 30 U.S. children are without homes.

The Guardian reports:

According to the report released on Monday by the National Center on Family Homelessness, child homelessness increased in 31 states and the District of Columbia. Nearly 2.5 million children experienced homelessness in the US in 2013, an 8% rise nationally from 2012.

California and states in the south and south-west ranked particularly poorly in an analysis of homelessness, state responses and associated factors. According to the report, California has more than 500,000 homeless children, a high cost of living and only 11,316 housing units for homeless families; only Alabama and Mississippi, with chronically bad poverty rates, ranked worse.

… Factors that cause the high rates of child homelessness included high rates of family poverty, particularly in houses headed by single women who are black or Hispanic; a dearth of affordable housing for low-income families; fallout from the recession economy, such as foreclosures and debt; long-lasting effects of trauma; and institutional racism resulting in economic segregation. The report cites a 1999 finding that black children under five were 29 times more likely than white children to be in an emergency shelter.

The Guardian quoted the research and advocacy organization’s director, Dr. Carmela DeCandia, as saying in a release with the report, “Child homelessness has reached epidemic proportions in America. … Living in shelters, neighbors’ basements, cars, campgrounds and worse — homeless children are the most invisible and neglected individuals in our society.”

Read more here.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly