The Family Shelter

According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, the following statistics were presented to Congress in the 2017 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report:

On a single night in 2017, 553,742 people were experiencing homelessness in the United States. For every 10,000 people in the country, 17 were experiencing homelessness. Approximately twothirds (65%) were staying in emergency shelters or transitional housing programs, and about onethird (35%) were in unsheltered locations.

Homelessness increased for the first time in seven years. The number of people experiencing homelessness increased by a little less than one percent between 2016 and 2017. This increase reflected a nine percent increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness in unsheltered locations, which was partially offset by a three percent decline in the number of people experiencing homelessness in sheltered locations.

Recent increases in homelessness were driven mostly by specific changes happening within cities. Increases in the numbers of unsheltered individuals in the 50 largest cities accounted for nearly all of the national increase.

The number of people experiencing homelessness in families with children declined by five percent between 2016 and 2017— 10,055 fewer people and 3,294 fewer family households. As of 2017, 184,661 people in families with children were experiencing homelessness, 33 percent of the homeless population.

In 2017, 40,799 people were experiencing homelessness as unaccompanied youth—that is, people under the age of 25 experiencing homelessness on their own. Most unaccompanied youth (88%) were between the ages of 18 and 24. Unaccompanied youth were more likely to be unsheltered (55%) than both all people experiencing homelessness (35%) and all people experiencing homelessness as individuals (48%).

Between 2016 and 2017, the number of veterans experiencing homelessness increased for the first time since 2010. Nonetheless, homelessness among veterans dropped 45 percent since 2009. The two percent increase during the past year was almost entirely accounted for by increases among unsheltered veterans in major cities.

There were 12 percent more individuals with chronic patterns of homelessness in 2017 than in 2016, but has declined by 27 percent since 2007. Unlike other increases in the last year, the increase in chronic homelessness included both sheltered populations (8% increase) and unsheltered populations (14% increase)

The Family Shelter (FS), located at 2700 Eighth Avenue, Altoona offers area men, women and children shelter services. Homelessness is not just an issue in large cities, it affects all communities, large and small.