TWITTTER, FACEBOOK, FORUMS AND CHAT
I eliminated the forum section today <08/15/14> due to lack of participation. that disappointed me greatly since i think a forum area is ideal to express your views and let others share theirs. But then again I guess you can do that on Twitter. The chat section is still in use if you want to use it. It is based on the old Irc format and is an open chat. Just sign in and begin with whoever may be there. I can arrange an open chat if anyone is interested on a particular topic or even having a guest if anyone wants to request or suggest one. You can leave any comments you have on the blog posts as always. I don't edit it and it appears as you write it. I will, however delete any inappropriate material or over the top cursing.
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FACEBOOK SHARES AND POSTS FROM THE HOMELESS110 WALL
Favorite Tweets From Twitter
LIVE CHAT AREA
Don't be afraid of our live chat. It's simple and easy and is only connected to this website. Just enter a nickname you want to use, hit connect and you're connected to any visitor on this site who is also signed in. I'd prefer you use your twitter nick if you have one so I can identify with you more, but choose whatever you like. I might even be here....homeless110.
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Msc, Facts, Figures and Information
. Depending on what source you reference there are approxiamately 650,000 to 2,500,000 homeless people in the United States.
1 out of every 5 children in Delaware live in poverty
17.5 million households in the United States experience food insecurity annually
Based on the average free housing program estimates to give a free apartment to a homeless person, it would cost around
9.6 billion dollars annually to house 600k homeless people in the United States. This figure would grow exponentially. It would take
approximately 600k free housing units to bring homelessness to a manageable level.
90% of chronically homeless vets served noncombat duty prior to 9/11/01. That is why we need to reconsider the very
expensive effort to house chronically homeless vets at the expense of a more vulnerable homeless population such as the mentally ill,
the truly disabled and children. The current trend to push for free housing for homeless vets is very expensive and being carried out
mainly for political capital by our leaders. They are simultaneously overspending and surrendering on the larger and more severe problem
of the general homeless population.
14.5% of Americans live in gvt. defined poverty. This country spends roughly 1 trillion dollars a year on various anti-poverty
programs. The 14.5% is actually a false number because it does not include programs such as medicaid, the eitc program, snap benefits and section 8 housing vouchers. If these things were taken into consideration the poverty rate would actually be significantly lower, as low as
5% or 6% by most estimates, including those done by reputable sources such as the cbo and forbes. According to
basic income advocates we spend enough annually on social service programs to give every man, woman and child in america, despite
their economic standing, approximately 23k a year.
in the school year beginning in 2014 a record number of homeless children were enrolled... a total of 1.3 million. in addition to that fact, 76.000
of the homeless children were living on their own, such as runaways or abandoned children.
at the beginning of the school year 2015, that number has increased dramatically due to a newly
accepted definition of a homeless student being accepted my school systems and the naeh.
hud and other federal agencies have yet to recognize the new definition, making their count
of homeless students significantly smaller.
twenty percent of american kids live in poverty, according to the latest data from the census bureau. this figure is based on a family of four living on less than $23,624 yearly. this figure as stated above does not include many benefits that would significatly reduce this number and actually bring it to a level that would indicate social programs work and keep people out of poverty and prevent hunger.
20 percent of American children are going hungry. Sixteen million children live in households that struggle to afford food, according to a 2012 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
HUD reports that on any given night over 138,000 of the homeless in the US are children under the age of 18. Thousands of these homeless children are unaccompanied according to HUD
One in five homeless people suffer from untreated severe mental illness
While about 6% of the general population suffers from severe mental illness, 20 to 25% of the homeless suffer from severe mental illness according to government studies. Half of this population self-medicate and are at further risk of addiction and poor physical health. A University of Pennsylvania study tracking nearly 5000 homeless people for two years discovered that investing in comprehensive health support and treatment of physical and mental illnesses is less costly than incarceration, shelter and hospital services for the untreated homeless
this whole article is important enough to post the url. it's an important piece of information and an indictment on hud and the way they
skew the numbers.
http://campaignforchildren.org/news/press-releases/agency-s-homelessness-data-misleading-advocates-say.
over 600,000 American's experience homelessness on any given night with 138,000 being children under the age of 18. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness
Homeless children as defined by the federal "No Child Left Behind" program includes not just those living in shelters or transitional housing, but also those sharing housing of other persons due to economic hardships, living in cars, parks, bus or train stations or awaiting foster care placement. Using this definition, the National Center for Homeless Education reported in September 2014 that local school districts have 1,258,182 homeless children in a public school which is an 8% jump from 2013 as reported by Mic.com. Youth homelessness has increased 72% in the last 7 years.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/11/17/where-the-nations-2-5-million-homeless-children-live/
this is a breakdown of child homelessness by state with different statistics and rankings
it's an informative site and interesting
http://www.homelesschildrenamerica.org/
http://www.homelesschildrenamerica.org/
http://www.familyhomelessness.org/getinvolved.php?p=tm
good resource site for child homelessness
The National Coalition for Subsidized Housing reports that rental assistance applicants have an average wait time of two years.
Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/11/24/3506096_this-holiday-season-we-should.html?sp=/99/447/&rh=1#storylink=cpy
this article is from someone who experienced homelessness as a child. it is well worth the read
for the perspective of a homeless child who lived thru and survived it
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nikki-johnsonhuston-esq/finding-nikki-surviving-a_b_6363230.html
Headlines and News To Review
I am putting in this section to post and retain headlines and statements in the news. At a later date i will
follow up on these and see how they performed according to the statements made. I'm doing the because
in today's social media there are alot of agencies and organizations that grab headlines with statements that
turn out to be empty promises or nothing more than an attempt at publicity. Most of it is political nonsense
for the sake of getting their name or agency in headlines. So, this is my way of holding
them accountable for what they say they're capable of doing, what they're going to do and what they promise
to do but often fail to fulfill or follow thru on.
Houston reports progress in combating veterans'homelessness
a nationwide goal of ending veteranhomelessness by the end of 2015
from an article on google news dated 9/23/14
Houston Nearly Halves HomelessPopulation In 4 Years
Huffington Post - 17 hours via google news feed 06/12/15
this article says they have effectively ended veteran homelessness
and have cut the overal total homelessness by 46% in four years.
i'm not going to question the reduction in vet homelessness because
there has been a large effort and an enormous amount of money spent
housing the vets. but i will question the 46% overall reduction since as
early as january reports out of houston were that missions, shelters and other
emergency housing locations were full and over capacity. the effort to house
veterans is to be commended. now we'll see if they can sustain the program
during a time of austerity and pending budget cuts in congress.
Two More Cities Pledge to End VeteranHomelessness by 2015
from an article on nation swell dated 9/23/14
chicago mayor emanuel and wichita mayor carl brewer
both said they will end veteran homelessness by
the end of 2015. we shall see.
Virginia Moves To End Veteran Homelessness By The End Of 2015
from an article in alexandrianews.org dated 9/24/14
the 100 day challenge states it will end veteran homelessness by the end of 2015
In effort to end veteran homelessness by 2015, this $270 million doesn't hurt
from an article in the washington post dated 10/02/14
The Obama administration has announced a new round of funding to help meet its
goal of ending veteran homelessness by 2015, pumping nearly $270 million into
programs aimed at addressing the problem.
The VA committed more than $1 billion in 2014 to strengthen programs that prevent
and end homelessness among veterans, according to the agency.
Two Oregon nonprofits awarded a combined $9 million to battlehomelessness ...
from an article in the oregonian dated 10/02/14
n 2009, President Obama and former VA secretary Eric Shinseki announced a goal
of ending veteran homelessness by the end of 2015.
HUD and VA to help homeless veterans find homes
from an article on google news feed from thv11 dated 10/03/14
HUD-VASH is a critical part of the Obama Administration's commitment
to end Veteran homelessness by the end of 2015
President Obama has asked for an additional $75 million for HUD-VASH
vouchers to serve Veterans experiencing homelessness in his fiscal year 2015 budget
note again the commitment to end vet homelessness by next year....knowing it can't
be done that quickly
US is making great strides in reducing homelessness
from the albuquerque journal dated 10/05/14
i'm not even going to quote anything since the whole article will be followed up
on. it makes some very broad, very assuming and very untrue statements
and says homelessness will be ended by 2020 according to the obama
administration. by the way....they won't be around in 2020 when this doesn't
happen. we'll see what progress they make along the way
Austin mayor vows to end veteran homelessness
from kvu.com in Austin via google news feed <10/16/14>
On Wednesday afternoon, Leffingwell and members of various organizations
working to end homelessness accepted a nationwide challenge to end veteran
homelessness by 2015 by pulling together resources. More than 225 communities
across the country have taken the pledge. there's only 178 homeless
vets in Austin out of the app. 2300 homeless people, some whom are children.
they have a year and over 5 million dollars to house 178 people.
we shall see.
Ending veterans' homelessness in Ohio
from sidneydailynews.com via google news feed <10/21/14>
By U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown
the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has set a goal to eliminate veteran
homelessness nationwide by 2015 and we’re making progress.
that's what sen. brown said today. of course, it's an election year and
ending veteran veteran homelessness is a very politically valuable topic
we shall see.....we shall see.
recently hud, with usich mimicking them, released a report that said homelessness
had decreased...yes...decreased in the united states. i find this incredulous since
almost every major city and every state reports an increase in homelessness,
particularly among children and families. they released it on 10/30/14. i am going to list
some of the findings here, so when the 2015 pit is taken and this proves to be true, i want
to be able to recall this report and these headlines. even some states have conflicting reports
with hud's findings. major homeless advocates are finding this report as incredulous as i am.
in reality it is a flaw in hud and the way they count the homeless. but they know this...and should
never...ever have released a report that said it had decreased...not even small 10% it recorded in
the street homeless. of course...they touted reducing veteran homelessness by 25%. of course this
is chronically homeless veterans who only represent 1% of the total homeless population. the important
statistics...the street homeless and families with children either remained stagnate or are spiraling upward
in every major city and in most states. here are some of the headlines associated with this report.
"As a nation, we are successfully reducing homelessness in this country, especially for those
who have been living on our streets as a way of life," the head of Hud, Castro said.
Homelessness Rose in New York
in New York City, the homeless population continued to grow, swelling in almost every category:
individuals, families and the chronically homeless.
In 2014, the number of homeless people in the city reached 67,810
Homelessness Up 40 Percent In Mass. Since 2007
The report, based on a point-in-time census, found homelessness in Massachusetts rose 40.4
percent since 2007. 21,237 homeless in masssachusetts in 2014
Federal report: Wisconsin homelessness down 1%
There were 6,055 homeless people in Wisconsin during the January count,
that means a paltry reduction of 61 people in a year. come on....is that really
reducing homelessness?
Nevada's increase in homeless individuals largest in nation
Twenty states saw an increase in the number of homeless individuals between 2013 and 2014,
with Nevada experiencing the largest surge of 1,733 more individuals, according to a report
released Thursday by the U.S
While U.S. Homelessness Has Gone Down, DC's Problem Has Gotten Much Worse
HUD reports decrease in homelessness in Arkansas
local homeless planning agencies reported that there were 2,936 persons experiencing
homelessness throughout Arkansas.
In Arkansas, homelessness had declined by 23 percent since last year.
National homelessness: Oregon shows 50 percent drop in number of homeless .
A 50.7 percent decline -- from 8,761 in 2010 to 4,322 in 2014 -- in the number of
individuals in Oregon families who were experiencing homelessness
A 50.6 percent decline -- from 12,261 in 2010 to 6,063 in 2014 -- in the
number of unsheltered homeless in the state.
Count of Maine homeless dropped this year, but rises over long term, survey finds
The number of homeless people in Maine counted during an annual census fell 9.6
percent from 2013 to 2014.
Volunteers counted 2,726 homeless individuals in Maine during last January’s
snapshot survey, compared with 3,016 individuals in January 2013.
this whole article is important enough to post the url. it's an important piece of information and an indictment on hud and the way they
skew the numbers.
http://campaignforchildren.org/news/press-releases/agency-s-homelessness-data-misleading-advocates-say.
No more homelessness by 2016, says How's Nashville <from an article by Jen Todd, [email protected]
via google news feed dated 11/6/14
By 2016, no more locals will sleep on benches through all types of weather, or stand by traffic lights with signs asking for money
The Zero: 2016, which aims to end veteran homelessness by December 2015 and chronic homelessness by
December 2016. It launches in January.
we shall see....we shall see
Gov. McAuliffe pledges to end veteranhomelessness by next year
from an article on http://www.insidenova.com/ via google news feed <11/11/14>
Gov. Terry McAuliffe pledged during a stop in Herndon last week to stamp out
homelessness among military veterans within the next year.
here are about 7,000 homeless Virginians, and 617 of them are military veterans,
McAuliffe said. “By this time next year my goal is to make sure not one veteran
will go to bed without a roof over their head.”
we shall see...indeed we shall see
i am going to post this because this is apparently our best efforts in fighting homelessness in 2014.
at least that's the opinion of the writer. i'll review this is early 2015 and see just how effective each one was
during the year.
Top 10 Highlights of 2014 in Ending Homelessness
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-john-roberts/top-10-highlights-of-2014_b_6382952.html
Norman to participate in Zero: 2016, a national initiative to end homelessness
from newsok,com via google newsfeed <12/29>
Norman was selected recently to be one of 69 communities to participate in Zero: 2016,
a nationwide campaign to end veteran and chronic homelessness in those communities by the end of 2016
Like other recent Norman programs, Zero: 2016 follows the “housing first” principle.
they say they're going to end homelessness by the end of 2016 in this city. however, they
have never had a count of how many homeless they have, where they're located or how many
are single men or women and how many are families with children. so, they prioritize and make promises
without even knowing what they're dealing with.
we shall see...indeed we shall see
This Major City Just Became the First inAmerica to End Homelessness Among ...
Mic - Jan 8, 2015 <via google news feed>
they state they have ended veteran homelessness in new orleans. i truly hope they did,
although with over 4500 homeless people still in new orleans i have my doubts.
i'm going to keep my finger on this one
Minnesota Moves Toward Goal of Ending Veteran Homelessness
Northland's NewsCenter <via google news feed> March 8th 2015
MDVA, together with Governor Mark Dayton's Cabinet–Level Interagency Council on Homelessness, set this goal as a part of the State's Plan to prevent and end homelessness in Minnesota by the end of 2015.
Success will be measured by the point–in–time count conducted in January, 2016.
and it will indeed be measured by that very pit...not only among veterans but the remaining homeless population, including women and children
we shall see....indeed we shall see
Mayor Morrissey Sets Goal to EndHomelessness by 2016
WIFR.com <via google news feed> March 8th 2015
The more than 3,000 homeless people in Rockford could have a home by the end of next year.
A lofty goal set by Mayor Larry Morrissey to eradicate homelessness in the Forest City
we shall see...indeed we shall see
"City Passes Innovative 'Homeless Bill Of Rights'"
ThinkProgress - Mar 5, 2015 <via google news feed>
On Monday, the city council of Indianapolis passed a “Homeless Bill of Rights” to protect its population without housing,
one of the first cities to do so.
The bill ensures this population a number of rights, such as the right to move freely in public spaces, a reasonable expectation
of privacy for their belongings, equal treatment by city agencies, and access to emergency medical care.
indianapolis has a homeless population of anywhere between 4800 and 8000 i'm curious to know exactly how this is going
to benefit the homeless. i'm going to post this here and later in the year follow up on the homeless population
and the progress, if any, the city has made in finding a solution to aiding and housing the homeless. other than this ridiculous bill
of rights ordinance, i think not much will be accomplished.
Abdul: Indy's homeless 'bill of rights' is pointless
Indianapolis Star - Mar 12, 2015 <via google news feed>
those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience/
This “bill of rights” will accomplish nothing, but will cause litigation problems for the city
So it seems to me, all the council did was try to grant rights, for the most part, that already exist are granted by higher
legal authority. So what was the point in all this?
i'm posting this here because it is a good article explaining the senseless effort to enact
homeless bills of rights by various homeless agencies. it accomplishes nothing...zero.
personally i would avoid any homeless agency or advocacy that actively supports this effort.
NAEH15
the following are tweets from the national association to end homelessness 2015 conference. it
struck me that this years speakers, tweets and headliners were saying the same things
and touting the same programs they were two years ago. if i changed the names of the
speakers, the content would be almost identical. so this year i'm going to post this
and when naeh16 rolls around i'm going to review this and see what they've accomplished.
This County Now Has No HomelessVeterans
ThinkProgress - Sep 4, 2015 <via google news feed>
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/09/04/3698759/lancaster-county-end-veteran-homelessness/
i'm posting this article not to check later to see if all the vets remained housed but because of the
ratio of homeless vets housed in comparison to the total number of homeless. most articles or
cities don't publish that fact and i think it's an important one when it comes to analyzing the
effectiveness of spending.
Veterans had made up about 10 percent of the county’s 359-strong homeless population.
which means while i think it's admirable to house one homeless person, if an inordinate amount
of money was spent to target veterans while leaving 360 more homeless on the street, then it
becomes less admirable and a reflection on the "let's house veterans at all costs and regardless
of the reprecussions" mentality that exists right now. i'll follow back up on this at a later date.
Bowser unveils blueprint to address city's backlog of homeless families
Washington Post - Sep 1, 2015 <via google news feed>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/bowser-unveils-blueprint-to-address-citys-backlog-of-homeless-families/2015/09/01/6c0f9b9e-50f4-11e5-9812-92d5948a40f8_story.html
this, is an ongoing saga that really demonstrates a city's lack of common sense, a willingness to make
false claims and promises year after year, and a very poorly administered homeless agency.
they spend more money than it would take to house every homeless person in the district
year after year after year, but yet they continue to follow failed programs and continue to
spend their resources irresponsibly. every summer, they make a new claim, with a new program
and make more promises they can't possibly fill this year seems to no different. this winter, homeless
families will once again suffer in subpar shelters and make shift living quarters. this year, an ever
increasing number of homeless people will spend the winter on the street, while needed resources
are expended on programs that haven't worked for a decade. and now, laura zellinger, the former head
of the usich, who made absolutely no progress in reducing homelessness while in that position and is responsible
for the agency's quest to continue following "free housing with no strings" which has never worked, has never
been sustained and has not succeeded in even setting a path to ending homelessness, in the position of heading
the district's homeless agency. the mayor offered no cost estimate for all of these proposals but said much of the
expense could be covered by a 30 percent increase in the operating budget for homeless programs approved this year by the council.
so in essence she's proliferating a program that she has no idea the cost of. smart.needless
to say i will follow up on this one along the way.
Los Angeles Puts $100 Million Into Helping HomelessNew York Times - Sep 22, 2015 <via google news feed>
i'm going to put this in because of two reasons. first is that this is a very large amount of money
to pour into the homeless services in los angeles. second because i want to review this at a later
date and see how much, if any, this amount of money reduces or alleviates the problem
in this city that hasn't made much progress against homelessness despite an very large
homeless services budget each year. this morning there are app 26k homeless people
on the streets of los angeles. something else that's interesting in this article is the
fact that los angeles may have very well coined the next big phrase in the effort to reduce and end
homelessness. they are now using "a homeless state of emergency" in their discussions. i've
seen one or two other cities pick up this phrase including portland and new york city. so i look
for it to be the mantra and headline for the next few months or perhaps longer.
100 million dollars....we shall see.
Mayor Pledges to House All HomelessVeterans and Women by End of 2015
http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/10/02/mayor-pledges-house-all-homeless-veterans-women-end-2015 i'm posting this because it has a major side fact in this article. the mayor is pledging to end homelessness
among women in portland by the end of the year. women are more vulnerable and more deserving
as a priority than veterans as a group, particularly if there are children involved. this is the first
city i've seen prioritize them either with or ahead of vets as a group. although i doubt the
veracity of the statement they'll do it by the end of the year, i am truly happy
they included women. we shall see.....indeed we shall see.
.