Homelessness and Hunger in the USA

The US is the richest country on earth. Millions of people around the world dream of coming to this “land of opportunity”. A land where everyone has a good, fun job and lots of friends; where everyone has a nice tan and perfect hair; and everyone is free to pursue his or her personal interests, unfettered by worries about money, housing, jobs, etc. At least that’s what the majority of sitcoms and movies portray. The reality is far different. As reported by Black Press USA in a study of 25 major cities in 2003:

• 61 percent of people requesting emergency food assistance held jobs.

• Requests for emergency food assistance increased by an average of 17 percent over the previous year, and requests for emergency shelter assistance increased by an average of 13 percent. Last year, there was an 11 percent leap in families with children requesting food, from 48 percent in 2002 to 59 percent.
  
• A record 56 percent of cities had to turn people away without help from food assistance programs, up 24 percent over the previous year. More than 14 percent of the requests for emergency food assistance are estimated to have gone unmet over the past year.
  
• A record 84 percent of cities had to turn away people from homeless shelters because of lack of space, up 38 percent over 2002 and the largest percentage in seven years. Fifteen percent of the requests from families were not met.
  
• Twenty cities reported that unemployment and unemployment-related problems were the leading causes of hunger. Overriding causes of hunger in 13 cities were attributed to low-paying jobs and in 11 cities, rising housing costs.
  
• Twenty-three cities said the lack of affordable housing contributed to homelessness. Other major causes included low-paying jobs, lack of needed services, mental illness or substance abuse problems.
  
• People remained homeless for an average of five months in the survey cities with 60 percent of the cities reporting that the length of homelessness time increased over the past year. Single men made up 41 percent of the homeless population, families with children made up 40 percent, single women, 14 percent and independent youth, 5 percent.

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