Sociological Focus: Personal Reflections
Although quite a few initiatives have been taken by the US governmental agencies such as the US Department of Housing and Urban Development , the US Department of Health and Human Services , the US Department of Veteran Affairs , and several non-governmental agencies, homelessness still remains a menace which is largely unattended and untreated. According to the National Coalition for Homeless (NCH) , “…in a recent approximation USA Today estimated 1.6 million people unduplicated persons used transitional housing or emergency shelters. Of these people, approximately 1/3 are members of households with children, a nine percent increase since 2007. Another approximation is from a study done by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty which states that approximately 3.5 million people, 1.35 million of them children, are likely to experience homelessness in a given year .” The National Coalition for the Homeless states that, “under the age of 18 accounted for 39% of the homeless population; 42% of these children were under the age of five” (“Who Is Homeless”).  As many as 3.5 million people experience homelessness in a given year (1% of the entire U.S. population or 10% of its poor), and about 842,000 people in any given week. Most were homeless temporarily. The chronically homeless population (those with repeated episodes or who have been homeless for long periods) fell from 175,914 in 2005 to 123,833 in 2007.