Homeless Shelter Occupancy at all Time High

The report released by the Coalition for the Homeless today showed that the homeless shelter population has reached an all time high.

There are now "more than 39,000 homeless adults and children sleeping in the New York City shelter system each night – the first time ever the shelter population has reached this level", according to the report, and blamed Mayor Bloomberg's policies for exacerbating the problem, and urging that they "must be abandoned" to bring about improvements.

According to the New York City Department of Homeless daily report, on October 16, 16,441 out of the 38,062 people living in homeless shelters were children.

One of Bloomberg's policies is "cutting of homeless New Yorkers from Federal housing assistance." According to this New York Times article, there are stipulations that are involved in cutting off the funding, and its purpose is to act as a deterrent for families seeking long-term housing in an homeless shelter.

According to the article, costs for housing a family has risen in recent years to about $36,000 a year, and the average stay is approximately nine months. The state is also seeking an approval for a 4-percent budget cut to shelters come January.

Critics of the plan, such as Bonnie Stone, the executive director of Women in Need, a shelter for women and children, don't think that this action will have its intended results of curbing homelessness.

But Mayor Bloomberg's current and proposed policies may be more of a contributor, rather than a main cause, to the growing problem.

According to a report by the National Coalition for the Homeless released in July of 2009, reasons for the epidemic could be due to factors occuring after the 2008 financial crisis, such as foreclosures and difficulty finding employment.

It found that there was 32-percent increase in the number of foreclosures between April 2008 and April 2009, and "40 percent of families facing eviction due to foreclosure are renters and 7 million households living on very low incomes are at risk of foreclosure."

When a family is of low-income, or grazing the poverty line, they have to make tough choices such as whether to pay their rent and utilities, or buy food for their children. They can't afford the luxury of paying them all.

A possible glimmer of hope in this situation is in a report released by the U.S Department of Labor last week, citing recent statistics indicating that there has been a six-week decline in the number of newly-filed unemployment benefits, which could be a sign that lay-offs and cost cutting are no longer necessary to produce some earnings in businesses.

In essence, it could be proof to the FED Chairman Ben Bernake's claim that "the recession is likely over."

In approaching the winter months, one could only hope that with the economy seeing signs of redemption and renewal, these homeless families will then be able to experience the same.