Posted on 12/14/2004 7:41:14 PM PST by satchmodog9
Hungry, Homeless Figures Increase in U.S.
Tue Dec 14, 6:05 PM ET U.S. National - AP
By SAM HANANEL, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Requests for emergency food and shelter increased in many large U.S. cities this year, but not by as much as in recent years, according to a survey released Tuesday.
AFP Photo
Requests for food rose by 14 percent, while appeals for shelter increased by 6 percent, said the annual report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, based on surveys of 27 large cities.
The numbers have risen every year since the conference began the survey 20 years ago. However, the rate of increase for food requests was the lowest since 1998. The rate of increase for shelter requests was less than half what it was in 2003, and the lowest since 1997.
"The good news here is that the increase in demand overall has slowed somewhat," said Nashville, Tenn., Mayor Bill Purcell, who chairs the conference's task force on hunger and homelessness. "The bad news is that the increased demand is all over the country."
Louisville, Ky., and its metropolitan area experienced the greatest spike in demand for emergency food, with requests rising 32 percent. Food needs rose 31 percent in Salt Lake City, 26 percent in Miami and Phoenix, and 24 percent in Los Angeles. Seattle reported a 3 percent decrease in emergency food requests.
Unemployment and underemployment are the leading causes of hunger, the report said, with high housing costs, medical costs, substance abuse and high utility costs also playing a role. Lack of affordable housing is the leading cause of homelessness, followed by mental illness and substance abuse.
About 23 percent of homeless people are considered mentally ill, while 30 percent are substance abusers.
The report does not attempt to calculate raw numbers of homeless or hungry people. It is based on cities' reports on the number of requests for emergency shelter or food, as provided by shelters and food banks.
The conservative Heritage Foundation called the report unreliable and exaggerated. It issued a statement saying it is implausible that the hunger rate could grow by double digits nearly every year for 20 years and cited Census Bureau (news - web sites) surveys showing a relatively small increase in the use of food banks since 1995.
Philip Mangano, the federal government's top administrator on homeless issues, said the concerns raised by the survey are valid, even if the numbers are a bit fuzzy.
"In cities around our country there is the perception and in some cases, through data, the reality of increased homelessness throughout our country," said Mangano, director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. "I think the spirit of this survey is to indicate to the country that we have a long way to go on the issues of homelessness, housing and hunger."
The study also found:
_Requests for food assistance by families with children increased by 13 percent.
_Fifty-six percent of people needing emergency food were members of families.
_Twenty-three percent of requests for emergency shelter by homeless people were unmet due to lack of resources.
The cities surveyed are Boston; Burlington, Vt.; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Charleston, S.C.; Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago; Cleveland; Denver; Detroit; Kansas City, Mo.; Louisville, Ky.; Los Angeles; Miami; Nashville, Tenn.; New Orleans; Norfolk, Va.; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; Providence, R.I.; St. Paul, Minn.; Salt Lake City; San Antonio; San Francisco; Santa Monica, Calif.; Seattle; and Trenton, N.J.
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Headline should read lowest in five years. So sick of the bias. Most people only read the headlines and the opinion is formed there.
"The conservative Heritage Foundation called the report unreliable and exaggerated. It issued a statement saying it is implausible that the hunger rate could grow by double digits nearly every year for 20 years and cited Census Bureau (news - web sites) surveys showing a relatively small increase in the use of food banks since 1995."
The only truth in the article.
It's all President Bush's fault.
What the hell is this? So forty four percent needing food had no family members; at all? Then how were they born?
Judging from the waistlines I see in Walmart, hunger has increased 10-fold in the last 10 years.
A "perception" that only appears like the swallows at Capistrano, with the installment of a Republican President.
Rush Limbaugh keeps telling us about the new media, but all I ever hear is the same old crap from the old media.
that only happens during a republican administration.
during a democrat administration the homeless disappear. (/s)
LOL, I do believe you are right.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1711.cfm
Last year's story and charts to show: Mayors' Claims of Growing Hunger Appear Wildly Exaggerated (and why).
Like usual: make a statement first, claiming that it's backed by scientific research, and confess later that the study uses a fuzzy math. The study's result is not important. The most important is that such study exists.
The report does not attempt to calculate raw numbers of homeless or hungry people. It is based on cities' reports on the number of requests for emergency shelter or food, as provided by shelters and food banks.
Well yes, there is a Republican in office, so it must be really bad, take a look back when Reagan and Bush 41 were in office and the horrible homeless report and how many were touted during the klintoon years?? Par for the course for the liberal press. Nobody listens or cares, because the reports are bogus, non-existant during demoncrapt presidency, horrible during a Republican Presicency?? NO BODY BELIEVES YOU ANY MORE LIBERAL MEDIA! Go find a soup kitchen, if you can.
Philip Mangano, the federal government's top administrator on homeless issues, said the concerns raised by the survey are valid, even if the numbers are a bit fuzzy.
Just like Dan Rather says... "Fake but accurate"
I was in the second or third grade when we read Aesop's Fables.
They all impressed me (e.g. grasshopper and ant), but the story of the boy who cried wolf too often stands out in its verity in these daily bits of "The Sky is Falling".
Nobody does listen or care. As you say, the reports are largely bogus.
I feel for any human who, by dint of ill-fortune is hungry, cold, and homeless. I can even muster a glimmer of sympathy for the alkys and crackheads who beg money.
But why does the press only notice this during Republican administrations?
i bet it rose in blue cities, from blue states with blue legislatures...
i know people who had homes, have money, and go to food lines...
i should say have..instead of had
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