The 15 Most
Homeless Cities In The World
Homelessness
is far from a developing country’s problem. In Europe alone, there are 3
million people on the streets. In Australia and Canada, hundreds of thousands
of people are homeless. Of course, the problem is much worse in poorer
countries. There are over 9.5 million homeless people in Columbia and 24.4
million in Nigeria. In total, the United Nations Commission
on Human Rights estimates that the world has 100 million homeless people.
How
do people end up on the streets? Job losses, foreclosures, unemployment, and
lack of affordable housing all play a part. Social factors can also be part of
the problem; domestic violence, lack of a supportive family, drug abuse,
alcoholism and mental illnesses all contribute to homelessness.
Finding
a solution to the homelessness problem has been hard for many cities, states
and countries. The current New York mayor has a notoriously tough time reducing
the number of ‘cluster sites’ in his city. Some cities, like Moscow,
have no programs in place to fight the problem despite the numbers of homeless
people growing steadily. Other cities such as Phoenix and San Francisco have
put measures in place to reduce homelessness, such as newspapers which are
given to the homeless population to sell and earn a living.
Some
cities are struggling much more than others, and some are overwhelmed by levels
of poverty. These fifteen cities have bigger homeless populations than anywhere
else in the world.
Via neoskosmos.com
Homelessness
in Greece has significantly increased to 20,000 homeless people in recent
years. About 50% of the homeless population roams the streets of Athens. A
high rate of homelessness in this, the home of Aristotle and Plato, is largely
down to the aggressive recession that hit Greece during the Global
Financial Crisis.
The
recession hit the country hard, reducing its gross domestic product by as much
as 25% and causing unemployment rates to soar to 27%. Many people have also
lost their lucrative jobs. According to the Athens city hall, most of these
people suffer from depression, with 60% resorting to drugs and
alcohol.
14. Phoenix, Arizona, United States
Via i.azcentral.com
By
the end of 2014, there were 11,314 homeless people in Phoenix Arizona. The
Phoenix Rescue Mission suggests that the main reasons people end up
homeless are foreclosures, job losses and evictions.
Social
situations such as drug and alcohol addiction, mental conditions, and domestic
violence also force people onto the streets.
Of the
city’s homeless, 43% are reported to have mental conditions while 21%
attest to abusing drugs. Almost half of first-time homeless people say that job
losses and foreclosures are the main reasons for their homelessness. The state
of Arizona has established the Arizona Commission for Homelessness and Housing,
and the Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness, to address the issue through
education, advocacy and special projects.
13. San Francisco, Northern California, United
States
Via hdnux.com
The
Coalition on Homelessness reported that 10,373 people were housed in emergency
shelters in San Francisco in 2013. This homeless advocacy association aims at
reducing this number over the next few years. It was formed in 1987 and created
an ingenious way to end homelessness: Printing and distributing a magazine,
which they called the Street Sheet, to the homeless to sell.
Today,
they print 17,000 copies of this newspaper, which is actually the longest constantly
running newspaper of its kind in North America. In 1990, the organization also
developed the Community Housing Partnership that has since set up over 1,000
permanent housing units for the homeless people in San Francisco.
12. Washington, D.C., United States
Via philip.greenspun.com
Despite
being the capital of the most powerful nation on earth, Washington, D.C.
harbors many homeless people. D.C., formally the District of Columbia, faces
crippling homelessness with over 57,000 people on the streets.
Of
these, 13,000 reside on the streets of Washington. These individuals are
so deep in abject poverty that they cannot meet basic needs such as buying food
or clothes. Five in every 10 homeless adults reported a $0 income while 30%
tested positive for chronic health problems.
This
number is higher in the female population given that 80% are living with HIV
and chronic diseases. What’s more disheartening is that their access to crucial
medical care is significantly reduced.
11. Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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Boston
is the third major city in the US with the highest number of homeless people.
It also has the highest number of people living in emergency shelters – 16,540,
to be precise.
According
to surveys, up to 25% of the homeless have jobs, but these jobs do not pay
enough to fund a roof over their heads.
The
director of the Emergency Shelter Commission for the Boston Public Health
Commission states that the city has one of the highest family homelessness
rates due to the high costs associated with housing in Boston.
However, Boston has very few homeless people wandering the streets: It has
a strict ‘right to shelter’ law that requires the state to find a place for
qualified families living rough to live.
QUIZZESON THERICHEST.COM
Via static.panoramio.com
A
2011 government census shows that there are in excess of 15,000 homeless people
in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Sao Paulo is the most populous city in Brazil, as well as
in the Americas.
Life
on these streets as a homeless person is excruciating. Approximately 50% of the
homeless people in Sao Paulo are housed in emergency camps, but the other half,
the one that gets it hard, sleeps on the streets. They are forced to face
notoriously harsh treatment from Brazilian authorities.
Via dankoutca.files.wordpress.com
It’s
technically illegal to be homeless in Hungary. The parliament of Hungary
introduced this law to forcefully move an increasing number of
homeless people into shelters.
Budapest
has 10,000 homeless people, and the 6,000 people that roam the streets can now
be charged and possibly face jail time. The law shocked human rights groups,
since unemployment and debt rates are sharply increasing. There are 20,000 more
homeless people throughout Hungary.
8. Buenos Aires, Argentina
Via upload.wikimedia.org
Buenos
Aires has an estimated 15,000 homeless people. Sadly, 30% are children and 13%
are elderly. The city provides shelters for the destitute, but it can only
shelter a maximum of 1,700 people. The number of those without a roof over
their heads is growing, and their chances of gaining employment are dwindling.
Reasons as to why people end up homeless in Argentina are vague.
One
volunteer says that a person becomes homeless when he or she loses connection
with his or her family. Apart from this, he says that most down-and-out people
owe numerous debts and have drug and substance abuse problems. Once on the
streets, it becomes difficult for them to obtain identity documents because of
the lack of a permanent address.
Via photos.davidaloca.com
Mumbai
has a population of almost 12.5 million. Over half of these residents live in
one of the many thousands of slums in Mumbai.
25,000
of these people are broke and on the streets. Lack of affordable housing, job
losses, attrition of family support, inadequate income, substance abuse,
disability and domestic violence are the leading causes of homelessness in
Mumbai.
Surveys
also show that drug abuse and alcoholism are high among the dispossessed and
harassment by property owners leads to homelessness. India as a whole also
experiences high poverty rates. According to the United Nations, 150,000,000
children below the age of 18 are living on the streets with 60,000,000 of them
being under the age of six.
Via everydayhistory101.files.wordpress.com
Indonesia
has higher Twitter activity than any other city in the world. Most residents
here also have two phones each. Despite all these advancements, Jakarta is also
home to over 28,000 people living rough.
The
homelessness phenomenon began with the reign of the tyrant General Suharto.
Suharto instituted policies that oppressed the locals. His administration would
grab land that was privately held under the pretence of development. However,
the land was only used to enrich the government.
This,
in turn, pushed many people into the streets. The number has continued to grow
over the years. In 2013, killer floods shattered the homes of over 100,000
people, adding that number to the total homeless people in the city.
Via media3.washingtonpost.com
Mexico
City is home to over 30,000 homeless people. A disturbing 50% are children, and
poverty is the main reason so many children do not have a roof over their
heads.
One
major effect of poverty is family breakdown and physical abuse. Many children
prefer to run away from their homes for fear that arguments between their
parents will become violent. Some leave at this point while others leave after
a physical abuse incident.
Overall,
the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) approximates that more than 25% of
Mexico’s under-18s live in utter poverty.
Via englishrussia.com
3.4%
of the population in Russia is homeless. Tens of thousands of the homeless
population is in Moscow. Researchers place the number of homeless people in
Russia at 1.5 – 3 million. Homelessness in this country has been the norm since
World War II.
Yuri,
who has spent over 15 years on the streets, says he lost his house at the age
of 29. Upon his father’s death, Yuri’s sister sold their house and threw him
out. Today, he lives with other homeless people at a train station and has $15
a day to survive.
3. Los Angeles, California, United States
Via latimesphoto.files.wordpress.com
The
streets of Los Angeles are home to over 57,000 destitute people.
The
majority are male and single, and half of these homeless people are
African American – despite the fact that the black population only accounts for
9% of L.A.’s total population.
31%
of L.A.’s homeless abuse drugs while 18% are disabled physically. Their average
age is 40, although the women tend to be younger. 25% are also reported to have
a mental illness. On any given night, the city has over 12,934 homeless people
seeking refuge in a homeless shelter, or in a motel using emergency vouchers.
2. New York City, New York, United States
Via analyticfocus.com
There
are 60,352 people without a roof under their heads in the Big Apple.
This
number includes 25,640 children. 22,386 are adults and over 12,326 are single.
These numbers have continued to rise steadily regardless of the campaign
promises by the new mayor Bill de Blasio.
De
Blasio’s plan was to shelter homeless families away from the usual cluster
sites. Although Bill’s administration is trying to move them into permanent
houses, it is proving hard to fight the stubborn cluster site problem. In fact,
he has been forced to increase these sites from 2,918 to 3,143. He plans to remove
4,000 people from cluster sites this year.
via o.canada.com
Manila,
Philippines has the highest homelessness rate in the world. The United Nations
Commission on Human Rights reports that this city has 70,000 dispossessed people
on its streets. The commission also reports that the entire country has a
distressing 1,200,000 children living on the streets. These children are faced
with numerous problems including the abuse of drugs such as marijuana, shabu
and cough syrups, health problems due to the deplorable conditions in which
they live in, child prostitution by pedophiles and foreign sex tourists, and
the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. Recently, when the pope was visiting the
country, numerous street children were rounded up and locked in cages.
Authorities supported the inhumane act arguing that it was done to prevent
gangs of beggars from approaching the pope.
List of country by homeless populations
|
 Australia | 105,237 | 2012[2] | 0.43% | Homelessness in Australia | |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina | 143,000 | 2010[3] | 3.73% | |
 Canada | 200,000 | 2013[4] | 0.5% | |
 Chile | 12,000 | 2014[5] | 0.07% | |
 China | 2,579,000 | 2011[6] | 0.18% | |
 Croatia | 10,000 | 2015[7] | 0.23% | |
 Czech Republic | 30,000 | 2014[8] | 0.28% | |
 Denmark | 6,138 | 2015[9] | 0.11% | Homelessness in Denmark |
 Egypt | | 2013[10] | 18.28% | Homelessness in Egypt |
 England | | 2014[11] | 0.20% | Homelessness in England |
 Slovenia | 4,000 | 2014[12] | 0.20% | |
 Finland | 7,572 | 2011[13] | 0.13% | |
 France | 141,500 | 2012[14] | 0.21% | Homelessness in France |
 Germany | 380,000 | 2016[15] | 0.47% | Homelessness in Germany |
 Greece | 20,000 | 2013[16] | 0.18% | Homelessness in Greece |
 Grenada | 60,000 | 2004[17] | 56.44% | |
 Guatemala | 475,000 | 2012[18] | 3.15% | |
 Guinea | | 2012[19] | 68.5% | |
 Haiti | 2,300,000 | 2010 | 23.24% | |
 Hong Kong | 1,400 | 2014[20] | 0.02% | |
 Honduras | 1,000,000 | 2013[21] | 12.35% | |
 Hungary | 15,000 | 2013[22] | 0.15% | |
 India | 1,770,000 | 2011[23] | 0.15% | Homelessness in India |
 Indonesia | 3,000,000 | 2004[24] | 1.36% | |
 Ireland | 7,148 | 2016[25] | 0.15% | Homelessness in Ireland |
 Israel | 1,831 | 2014[26] | 0.02% | Homelessness in Israel |
 Italy | 48,000 | 2014[27] | 0.08% | |
 Ivory Coast | | 2014[28] | 68% | |
 Japan | 25,000 | 2006[29] | 0.02% | Homelessness in Japan |
 Lithuania | 5,000 | 2014 | 0.16% | |
 Luxembourg | 1,533 | 2013[30] | 0.28% | |
 Mali | | 2012[31] | 80% | |
 Netherlands | 31,000 | 2015[32] | 0.19% | |
 Norway | 6,259 | 2012[33] | 0.14% | |
 Nigeria | 24,400,000 | 2007[34] | 16.58% | |
 Peru | | 2011[35] | 5.6% | |
 Poland | 30,000–200,000 | 2010[36] | 0.08%–0.52% | |
 Portugal | 3,000 | 2012 | 0.03% | |
 Romania | 15,000 | 2004[37] | 0.07% | |
 Russia | 5,000,000 | 2014[38] | 3.5% | Homelessness in Russia |
 Spain | 40,000 | 2012[39] | 0.09% | Homelessness in Spain |
 South Africa | 7,000,000 | 2007[40] | 14.31% | Homelessness in South Africa |
 South Korea | 4,921–10,921 | 2012[41][42] | 0.01%–0.02% | |
 Sweden | 34,000 | 2011[43] | 0.36% | Homelessness in Sweden |
 Switzerland | 1,500 | 2013[44] | 0.02% | Homelessness in Switzerland |
 Togo | 100,000 | 1999[45] | 2.11% | |
 Uganda | 500,000 | 2014[46] | 1.43% | |
 Ukraine | 1,000,000 | 2015[47] | 2.35% | |
 United Kingdom | 250,000 | 2016[48] | 0.38% | Homelessness in the United Kingdom |
 United States | 564,708 | 2015[49] | 0.18% | Homelessness in the United States |
 Venezuela | 2,000,000 | 2012[50] | 6.68% | |
 Wales | 15,000 | 2011[51] | 0.05% | |
 Zambia | | 2008[52] | 80% | |
 Zimbabwe | 1,200,000 | 2013[53] | 8.48% |
A roof is not enough A look at homelessness worldwideby Monte Leach
According to Scott Leckie, Director of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions in Geneva, homelessness persists on a vast scale in both rich and poor countries because of economic and political disregard for the human rights of the poor.
According to estimates, 100 million people worldwide are literally homeless. They have no shelter: they sleep on pavements, in doorways, in parks or under bridges. Or they sleep in public buildings like railway or bus stations, or in night shelters set up to provide homeless people with a bed.
The estimated number of homeless increases to 1,000 million people if we include those in housing that is "very insecure or temporary, often of poor quality - for instance, squatters who have found accommodation by illegally occupying someone else's home or land and are under constant threat of eviction; those living in refugee camps whose home has been destroyed; and those living in temporary shelters (like the 250,000 pavement dwellers in Bombay)". This is according to a 1996 report by the UN Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat).
| At the most basic economic level, homelessness is caused by poverty and unemployment. The poor simply cannot afford adequate shelter. |
The numbers would surpass 1,000 million if we include "all people who lack an adequate home with secure tenure (ie, as owner-occupiers or tenants protected from sudden or arbitrary eviction) and the most basic facilities such as water of adequate quality piped into the home, provision for sanitation and drainage".
The problem isn't limited to the developing world. In the European Union countries, an estimated 2.5 million people are homeless over the course of the year. In the US, estimates are that at least 700,000 people are homeless on any given night - living in public places or in emergency shelters. At some time during the year, some 2 million Americans are homeless.
Inadequate housing takes a variety of forms world-wide, including: cages (Hong Kong); buses and shipping containers (Israel and the occupied territories); pavements (India and Bangladesh); cellars, staircases, containers and rooftops (Europe); streets (children throughout Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe); and cardboard boxes (United States).
Causes
The causes of inadequate housing would not seem to include lack of international agreements on the subject. In addition to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there are literally dozens of other treaties, declarations, conventions, and covenants, signed by all UN states, that proclaim housing as a fundamental human right. Over 40 national constitutions also include the right to housing.
So why is homelessness so pervasive? The causes are varied. At the most basic economic level, homelessness is caused by poverty and unemployment. The poor simply cannot afford adequate shelter. With estimates of the number of absolute poor (those who cannot meet their most basic needs) reaching 1,200 million people worldwide - which is about equal to estimates of the homeless - poverty and homelessness are linked almost by definition. Beyond basic economics, there are political causes as well. "As countries develop, land values go up, and as they do, the people that have access to money and capital buy that land, generally in the best places," according to Scott Leckie, Director of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) in Geneva. "The middle and lower income groups are forced to the periphery of the city. That's why slums pop up around every single Third World city.
"Big money and gigantic vested interests are involved, whose interests are that the value of the property or land continues to increase year after year. This is a great thing if you have property. But if you don't, it's quite difficult to access affordable housing."
Because the poor often do not carry much political weight, a government may not feel the political pressure to improve its housing and anti-poverty policies. "If the government was elected because giant landowners and big corporate bosses wanted things a certain way, obviously the government is not going to spend considerable energy in trying to eradicate poverty." And government involvement is essential to the improvement of housing conditions because a purely private-sector, market-based approach does not work, Leckie says. "The legal housing market in every country in the world, no matter how rich or poor, fails to provide the necessary housing supply for the poorest 40 per cent of the population. The market simply does not provide for the lower income groups."
Add to the mix the international pressure exerted by institutions like the IMF and the World Bank. According to Leckie: "A country may have a decent housing policy, but also a huge debt. The World Bank and IMF come in with so much money and power, and basically say: 'You can either be a part of the world's economy, and play by the rules we establish, and cut these expenditures, or you can be ostracized and isolated from the world economy.' You can imagine the pressure brought to bear even on a reasonable government."
Solutions
There are viable solutions to many of these problems, and in some countries, more than others, the solutions are being implemented, at least on the local level. Daniel Biau, Executive Co-ordinator of Habitat in Nairobi, Kenya, says that to deal with the completely homeless population, governments should intervene directly: "Absolute homelessness is a bit like absolute poverty. It's a question of survival. You have to provide a safety net. These people are so poor they must be assisted directly." But for "relative homelessness, or relative poverty, you have to provide a framework, provide incentives," he says.
Many of the "relative homeless" are among the 1,000 million people who live in slums or shanty-towns. Almost all slums are technically illegal settlements, meaning that the people do not have clear title to the land, or that they have squatted on the land outright. Because there is an insufficient supply of legal housing available, people create their own housing solutions. They build slums near the city, which means near employment possibilities.
In fact, says Scott Leckie: "The overwhelming majority of new housing built in the world today is built by the people themselves, by the people who live in those houses, and by the communities in which they live." This trend should be encouraged by governments, Leckie believes. The solution to slums is not to evict people, or to eradicate the dwellings, he says, but to create conditions so that people can improve their own dwellings, with the assistance of the community. "One of the best ways to do that is by giving slum-dwellers security of tenure, so they know they are protected against arbitrary, unfair, or illegal eviction. If people know that, even if they only make a couple of hundred dollars a year, which many people do, they'll spend money improving their house that they wouldn't otherwise do if they were afraid of being evicted. If governments acted in partnership with people in this way, many good things could happen."
Biau agrees that improving slum conditions should be a key focus of governmental policy. "In developing countries, the first step for any housing policy should be to improve existing informal settlements [slums or shanty towns]," he says. "This includes the provision of security of tenure, and the provision of basic infrastructure, including water, sanitation and electricity." Another important component of housing policy, says Biau, should be the provision of financial incentives to small, private investors to encourage the development of cheap rental housing. "Governments should be enablers of development rather than controllers," says Sara Wakeham, Africa specialist at Habitat. "All of this informal development is happening anyway. We want local governments to support this development, rather than restrict and control it, and so encourage more and better-quality housing."
International assistance
International development aid to developing countries is on the decrease worldwide. And even within that shrinking pie, the amount of aid directed to the housing sector is only 2 to 3 per cent of total assistance. According to Daniel Biau: "Housing is such an expensive item that Western countries cannot pay for housing provision as part of their aid. They can pay for technical assistance, but they are a bit reluctant to provide it. Western governments consider housing a domestic priority, not a priority for international assistance. They prefer to focus on agriculture, for instance."
This approach is short-sighted, Biau believes. "International agencies have not yet understood that the 21st century will be the century of cities. Poverty and homelessness will more and more be concentrated there, and the international community has to do more to help developing countries."
Success stories
European Union countries are considered to have among the most socially advanced housing policies in the world. Among developing nations, countries such as Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, Senegal, Singapore, and Tunisia are praised for their efforts. In Brazil, for example, cities such as Fortaleza, Recife, Porto Allegre, Santo Andre, and several others are considered to have quite effective housing programs. And in post-apartheid South Africa, much progress has been made in making housing policies more favorable to the poor.
Much of the progress comes at the local level. "The places where you see success stories are the places where there are very strong community organizations present, a very high degree of participation in the community, and where the government has acted as a facilitating rather than a repressive force," says Scott Leckie. "Most of the success stories are small-scale, community by community, neighborhood by neighborhood, but they get replicated in other places once people find out about them."
Biau agrees: "The ideal situation would be to have a strong municipality defining the city-wide policies, and for each squatter settlement or slum to have a few CBOs (community-based organizations) and NGOs [Non-Governmental Organizations] co-ordinating the implementation of these policies. I believe that the key partnerships in the future will be between local authorities and CBOs and NGOs, at the city level."
But the political will must be present to accomplish these goals. "If there is the will in any city or country, there is a way to improve the situation," says Biau. "And the way can be easily defined." Biau says the media have an important role to play in convincing policy-makers to act more responsibly. And ultimately the people themselves have the ability to generate the needed political will. Throughout Latin America, for example, people have organized themselves, invaded land, and pressured governments to act for many years. In the Philippines, some 100,000 CBOs and NGOs are working toward the improvement of housing and living conditions in the slums.
"A popular-based approach, involving all relevant factors, most importantly the people themselves, is the basis of the solution," says Scott Leckie. "More and more people are beginning to realize that, and more and more people are becoming involved in these types of movements. In conjunction with greater recognition of housing as a human rights issue, more and more human rights and legal groups have become involved as well. Those two forces together are pushing things in a good direction."
2016’s Shocking Homelessness Statistics
Later this month, The San Francisco Chronicle will lead an effort to
flood the Bay Area with stories and news reports on the city’s homelessness crisis. Working with local television, print, and online news outlets, this coordinated effort will create a wave of coverage about this pressing issue, hopefully forcing the public and area politicians to put some major energy and resources into finding real, lasting solutions.
Are you a homeless services organization? Our free Homeless Services eBook is full of expert advice that comes from years of helping human services organizations.
For many cities, solving homelessness is an ongoing challenge. So, what does homelessness look like in 2016? The following statistics are alarming:
- 564,708 people in the U.S. are homeless. According to a recent report, over half a million people were living on the streets, in cars, in homeless shelters, or in subsidized transitional housing during a one-night national survey last January. Of that number, 206,286 were people in families, 358,422 were individuals, and a quarter of the entire group were children.
- 83,170 individuals, or 15% of the homeless population, are considered “chronically homeless.” Chronic homelessness is defined as an individual who has a disability and has experienced homelessness for a year or longer, or and individual who has a disability and has experienced at least four episodes of homelessness in the last three years (must be a cumulative of 12 months). Families with at least one adult member who meets that description are also considered chronically homeless.As the National Alliance to End Homelessness explains, “While people experiencing chronic homelessness make up a small number of the overall homeless population, they are among the most vulnerable. They tend to have high rates of behavioral health problems, including severe mental illness and substance use disorders; conditions that may be exacerbated by physical illness, injury, or trauma.”
- 47,725, or about 8% of the homeless population, are veterans. This represents a 35% decrease since 2009. Homeless veterans have served in several different conflicts from WWII to the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Washington, D.C., has the highest rate of veteran homelessness in the nation (145.8 homeless veterans per 10,000). 45% of homeless veterans are black or Hispanic. While less than 10% of homeless veterans are women, that number is rising.
- 1.4 million veterans are at risk of homelessness. This may be due to poverty, overcrowding in government housing, and lack of support networks. Research indicates that those who served in the late Vietnam and post-Vietnam era are at greatest risk of homelessness. War-related disabilities or disorders often contribute to veteran homelessness, including physical disabilities, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury, depression and anxiety, and addiction.
- 550,000 unaccompanied, single youth and young adults under the age of 24 experience a homelessness episode of longer than one week. Approximately 380,000 of that total are under the age of 18. Accurately counting homeless children and youth is particularly difficult. The National Alliance to End Homelessness explains, “Homeless youth are less likely to spend time in the same places as homeless people who are in an older age range. They are often less willing to disclose that they’re experiencing homelessness or may not even identify as homeless. They also may work harder to try to blend in with peers who aren’t homeless.”
- 110,000 LGBTQ youth in the U.S. are homeless. This is one of the most vulnerable homeless populations. A substantial number of young people who identify as LGBTQ say that they live in a community that is not accepting of LGBTQ people. In fact, LGBTQ youths make up 20% of runaway kids across the country. Family rejection, abuse, and neglect are major reasons LGBTQ youth end up on the streets. Additionally, homeless LGBTQ youth are substantially more likely than heterosexual homeless youth to be victims of sexual assault and abuse. LGBTQ homeless youth are twice as likely to commit suicide compared to heterosexual homeless youth.
- Fifty percent of the homeless population is over the age of 50. These individuals often face additional health and safety risks associated with age. They are more prone to injuries from falls, and may suffer from cognitive impairment, vision or hearing loss, major depression, and chronic conditions like diabetes and arthritis.
- 830,120 year-round beds are available in a range of housing projects. About half of those beds are dedicated to people currently experiencing homelessness. This includes
- Emergency Shelters that provide temporary or nightly shelter beds to people experiencing homelessness.
- Transitional Housing that provides homeless people with up to 24 months of housing and supportive services.
- Safe Havens that provide temporary shelter and services to hard-to-serve individuals.
The other half of these beds are targeted at recently homeless populations. Rapid Rehousing provides short-term and medium-term rental assistance, housing relocation, and stabilization services to formerly homeless people experiencing homelessness. Permanent Supportive Housing provides long-term housing with supportive services for formerly homeless people with disabilities. Other Permanent Housing provides housing with or without services, but does not require people to have a disability.
As shocking as these statistics are, there are so many great organizations working tirelessly to end homelessness in the U.S. and around the world. Get inspired by their work and success, continue reading some of the
Social Solutions case studies that feature clients who work with the homeless population!
Boston conducted its 32nd census of the city’s homeless population earlier this week. A report to the United Nations in 2005 stated there were an estimated 100 million homeless people in the world, and an additional 1.6 billion living without adequate housing. Here are some images of homelessness across the globe, collected from wire images this year. --
Lloyd Young (
31 photos total)
John Filliger who has been homeless for the past five years, lies wrapped in bedding on Washington Street in the heart of the Downtown Crossing area of Boston Dec. 12. Filliger, who was offered a bed in a shelter for the evening, stayed on the street for the night and was counted in the annual homeless census. (Charles Krupa/Associated Press)
A homeless man keeps himself warm near a bonfire on the pavement in New Delhi, India, Dec. 13. According to a news agency, India's Supreme Court has directed state governments to build adequate number of night shelters to ensure that no homeless person has to sleep under the open sky this winter. Though India is famous for its brutally hot summers, temperatures fall sharply for a few weeks in Dec. and Jan. Poor people, particularly those living on the streets, are the worst hit. (Mustafa Quraishi/Associated Press)
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Beverly McKinney, 63, sleeps in her wheelchair at St. Martin de Porres Church in Yorba Linda, Ca., because a knee injury prevents her from sleeping on the floor, she said. Her possessions include two blankets, food, spare clothes and her husband's ashes. She has been homeless since his death in Aug. (Mindy Schauer/Associated Press/Orange County Regsiter)
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Wiley James Hickman peeks over the school bus seat on his way to school at Libby Booth Elemantery in Reno, Nev. By Washoe County School District's definition, Wiley is a Child in Transition, or homeless. (Andy Barron/Associated Press/The Reno Gazette-Journal)
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Homeless Egyptian children play near electoral campaign posters in Giza, southwest of Cairo on Dec. 13 ahead of the second phase of voting in parliamentary elections. (Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images)
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A homeless man warms his foot by the flames of a fire in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)
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A homeless man sleeps on the pavement early in the morning during Spain's General Elections on Nov. 20 in Barcelona. Spaniards are going to the polls today to vote for Spain's new Prime Minister and 208 directly elected seats in the Senate, the Spanish Parliament's upper house. (David Ramos/Getty Images)
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Shoppers pass a homeless woman on Fifth Avenue on "Black Friday" Nov. 25 in New York City. Marking the start of the holiday shopping season, "Black Friday" is one of American retailers' busiest days of the year. (Michael Nagle/Getty Images)
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Residents sift through the ruins of their houses after a fire in Makati city, Metro Manila. Fire razed at least 900 shanty houses leaving more than 2,000 families homeless, police said. (Erik De Castro/Reuters)
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Pakistanis walk past a homeless woman resting on a railway bridge in Rawalpindi on Nov.13. A United Nations report on global poverty, has pointed to higher poverty levels in India rather than Pakistan and India, the world's second fastest growing economy, has been ranked as poorer than in Pakistan. (Farooq Naeem/AFP/Getty Images)
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A homeless man eats outside the Hospital San Juan de Dios in Guatemala City Nov. 29. According to the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction more than 1,400 homeless people have sought refuge in 13 shelters around the country due to low temperatures. (Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)
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A homeless man waits to get food donations beside a street in Las Vegas on Nov. 13. The Labor Department said the economy managed to break away from three months of 9.1 percent unemployment in October, but that jobs are being generated at a pace that offers little succor to the 14 million Americans looking for work. US officials have launched an independent review process in which individuals can challenge foreclosures carried out by 14 major lenders in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Independent consultants would assess if borrowers lost out financially "through errors, misrepresentations or other deficiencies in foreclosure practices," the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)
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A homeless man sleeps in a park as birds look for food in Colombo, Sri Lanka Nov. 24. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/Associated Press)
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Shoppers walk past a homeless man begging along a pavement n in Sydney Dec. 8. Australia's unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 5.3 percent in Nov., data showed on Dec. 8, with the number of people at work falling as businesses cut costs. (Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images)
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A homeless man begs for money during the launch of the Christmas celebrations and the illumination of Athens central Syntagma square Dec. 9. There will be no central Christmas tree in Athens this year, and the city estimated the cost of the 2011 Christmas celebrations at 200,000 euros (267,400 US dollars), roughly 10 percent of the previous year's spendings for the season. (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images)
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Homeless people sit inside a shelter named The Crypt (Die Gruft) in Vienna Dec. 1. The Crypt is a facility cared by Caritas and solicits for donations from the public during the cold winter season. (Lisi Niesner/Reuters)
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A homeless man sits on the stairs in front of the BNP Paribas Bank at la Defense business district, near Paris Nov. 10. The European Union warned that the 17 country eurozone could slip back into recession next year as the debt crisis spins out of control. The EU's economic watchdog, the European Commission, predicted that the eurozone will grow only a paltry 0.5 percent in 2012 way down from its earlier forecast of 1.8 percent growth. EU unemployment will be stuck at 9.5 percent for the foreseeable future. (Michel Euler/Associated Press)
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An Armenian family from Georgia waits in the emergency room of the Angers University Hospital in Angers, western France Nov. 9. The family was sent to the hospital by members of SAMU Social, a social humanitarian emergency service to assist the homeless. Asylum seekers from Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and eastern Europe are demanding the right to remain in France. The city of Angers asked for greater provision of humanitarian aid to cope with the large number of asylum seekers. (Stephane Mahe/Reuters)
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A homeless man stands in the sunny part of a central Athens alley to get warm Dec. 9. Debt-crippled Greece is heading for a fourth year of recession among high unemployment. The country's statistical authority said Friday that the economy shrunk 5 percent on the year in the third quarter, compared to 7.4 percent on the year in the April-June period. (Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press)
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A homeless man sleeps outside a bank in Athens Nov. 25. Since the debt crisis erupted in late 2009, tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs or businesses and many others struggle on in employment where they haven't seen a paycheck in months. The number of homeless has shot up by about a quarter over the past two years to reach an estimated 20,000, social workers say. (Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press)
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Children from a local skate club distribute food to the homeless along a street in Las Vegas on Nov. 13. The Labor Department said the economy managed to break away from three months of 9.1 percent unemployment in October, but that jobs are being generated at a pace that offers little succor to the 14 million Americans looking for work. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)
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A woman sits on a mattress in a municipal shelter in Guatemala City Nov. 29. According to Guatemala's National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction more than 1,400 homeless people have sought refuge in 13 shelters around the country due to low temperatures. (Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)
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Two men play cards Nov. 23 in a house that was destroyed by the earthquake in the Fort Nationale neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. An ambitious reconstruction panel, co-chaired former US President Bill Clinton, was created 3 months after the Jan. 2010 earhtquake to coordinate the efforts to rebuild Haiti after the quake destroyed much of the capital and surrounding area, throwing more than a million homeless into huge, squalid resettlement camps. Almost two years after an earthquake devastated Haiti, less than half the $4.6 billion in pledged aid has been distributed and political squabbling is threatening to bringing a coordinated reconstruction efforts to an abrupt halt. (Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press)
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Angelic Davis, holds, her three-month-old son Richard Williams IV at a homeless shelter in Dallas Dec. 12. The recession and unemployment have created a man made disaster that has caused a steady increase in the number of homeless children in Texas. (Lm Otero/Associated Press)
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Homeless people sleep in an open ground area near the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi, India Dec. 13. According to a news agency, India's Supreme Court has directed state governments to build adequate number of night shelters to ensure that no homeless person has to sleep under the open sky this winter. (ustafa Quraishi/Associated Press)
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A homeless man covers himself with a plastic banner to shield himself from the cold near Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi, India. (Mustafa Quraishi/Associated Press)
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A homeless man, with a sign that reads in Spanish "Tigres champion" hanging from his neck and a cap with the words Merry Christmas begs for money in Monterrey, Mexico Dec. 12. Tigres won Mexico's Apertura 2011 soccer championship after defeating Santos Laguna 3-1 at home on Dec 11. (Daniel Jayo/Associated Press)
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Jackie Millet, 60, who is homeless, poses for a photo at the Occupy Eugene site Dec. 7 in Eugene, Ore. "For the homeless we need a place to be. We don't need to be criminalized," Millet said. (Kevin Clark/Associated Press/The Register-Guard)
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A homeless woman and her child sleep on a bench in a park in Manila's Chinatown Dec. 13. (Erik De Castro/Reuters)
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Homeless women look on during the baptism of former homeless alcoholic Sergei Ratov in Stavropol, Russia. The Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit is a group of around 70 reformed alcoholics and drug users who have built a rehabilitation centre outside Stavropol, with the support of the Orthodox church. (Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters)
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![Via neoskosmos.com]( "Via neoskosmos.com")
Clients line up at St. Martin de Porres Church in Yorba Linda, Ca. The church takes in about 150 homeless people bused from Fullerton and Santa Ana, offering them a hot meal, new socks and backpacks and a warm place to sleep for the evening. (Mindy Schauer/Orange County Register, via Associated Press
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