Incidence of "homelessness" and "houselessness".

HOMELESSNESS

According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s June 2010 Annual Homeless

Assessment Report to Congress (2010 AHAR)1, on a given night in January 2010:

• 407,966 individuals were homeless in shelters, transitional housing programs, or on the streets (this number does not include persons in family households).
• 109,812 individuals were chronically homeless, a 1% decrease from the previous year

Over the course of a year (October 2009-September 2010), the 2010 AHAR found that:

• 1,593,150 individuals experienced homelessness.

Among all sheltered individuals over the course of a year (October 2009-September 2010):

• 62% were male
• 38% were female

On a given night in January 2010:

• 109,812 individuals were chronically homeless

Of people utilizing emergency shelters between October 2009 and September 2010, 6.2% stayed for 6 months or longer.

HOUSELESSNESS

Most common reasons for houselessness (Supported Accommodation Assistance Program survey):

• Domestic and family violence (22%)
• Eviction/previous accommodation ended (11%)
• Relationship/family breakdown (11%)
• Usual accommodation unavailable (11%)
• Financial Difficulty (10%)

The most common reasons for each client group are:

Male alone, aged under 25:

• Usual accommodation unavailable (16.7%)
• Relationship/family breakdown (16.5%)

Male alone, aged 25 or over:

• Financial difficulty (15.4 %)
• Usual accommodation unavailable (14.9%)

Female alone, aged under 25:

• Relationship/family breakdown (21.5%)
• Domestic violence (12.3 %)
• Female alone, aged 25 or over
• Domestic and Family Violence (43.9%)

Couple with no children:

• Eviction/accommodation ended (21%)
• Financial difficulty (14%)

Couple with children:

• Eviction/accommodation ended (26.7%)
• Usual accommodation unavailable (14.1%)

Male with children:

• Eviction/accommodation ended (20.9%)
• Relationship/relationship breakdown (17.7%)

Female with children:

• Domestic and Family Violence (51.8%)
• Eviction/accommodation ended (9.1%)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Paquette A. (2011) Current Statistics on the Prevalence and Characteristics of People Experiencing Homelessness in the United States. Substance abuse and mental health services administration. Recovered in: May 30th 2015. Available in: http://homeless.samhsa.gov/ResourceFiles/hrc_factsheet.pdf
• Rebeccas community. Homeless statistics. Recovered in: May 30th 2015. Available in: http://www.homeless.org.au/statistics/