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...NATIONAL LAW CENTER ON HOMELESSNESS & POVERTY
January 2006
Introduction
Homelessness continues to grow across the country. An estimated 2.5 to 3.5 million men,
women, and children experience homelessness over the course of a year; 1 on any given night,
more than 800,000 Americans are homeless.2 According to a 2005 report, requests for
emergency shelter in the 25 cities studied rose by an average of 6 percent over 2005.3 On
average, 14 percent of requests for emergency shelter went unmet during the same period.4
Eighty-seven percent of the cities surveyed said that the length of time people were homeless
increased in the last year.5 These figures do not include those made homeless by Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita, the impact of which has still not been accurately quantified.
The federal government must take significant responsibility in any serious effort to end
homelessness. The Hurricanes brought home the importance of federal resources and response in
addressing the human impact of this natural disaster. However, homelessness that results from
other causes—health crises, lost jobs, low wages, mental illness, the simple unavailability of
affordable housing—is no less catastrophic, and the federal government is essential in addressing
this manmade disaster as well. Because of this, the National Law Center on Homelessness &
Poverty (NLCHP) is advocating for a federal plan to end homelessness.
In 2002, the Bush administration set a goal of ending "chronic" homelessness in ten years, and
reactivated the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. But to date, the federal effort has
been lagging, and cuts in housing and other social programs have instead exacerbated the causes
of homelessness. The Council, created by statute to lead the federal effort to address
homelessness, has instead focused much of its attention on persuading cities and states...
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