Report: One in 30 American children homeless
A new report estimates that one in 30 children experience homelessness.
Indeed, 2.5 million children are homeless each year in America, according to the report released Nov. 17, America’s Youngest Outcasts. “Child homelessness increased in 31 states and the District of Columbia from 2012 to 2013,” the report said. This represents an 8 percent increase overall and a larger increase --10 percent or more -- in 13 states and the District of Columbia.
Explanations include a lack of affordable housing, single parenting and the impact of traumatic events, particularly domestic violence.
Estimates of homelessness can vary depending on the definition an organization uses when analyzing the numbers. This report’s definition includes children living “doubled-up with relatives or friends due to loss of housing or economic hardship.”
States were ranked based on the extent of homelessness, child well-being, risk for child homelessness and policy planning. Five out of 10 states given the worst composite scores are in the South: Tennessee is No. 41, Kentucky is 42, Arkansas is 47 and Mississippi is 49. In Alabama, ranked 50th, more than 59,000 children were homeless during 2012-13 – a number roughly equivalent to the population of Auburn. The state’s population is 4.8 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Other states on the bottom include Oklahoma, ranked 43, Nevada, ranked 44, Arizona, 45, New Mexico, 46 and California, 48.
The state given the best rating is Minnesota. During the past year, 23,608 children were homeless. The state has a population of 5.4 million, according to the Census Bureau.
The report predicts that this wave of child homelessness could result in “a permanent Third World in America.”
The National Center on Family Homelessness is an organization of the American Institutes for Research, based in Waltham, Massachusetts.
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