Over 34,000 homeless in Pennsylvania’s emergency housing system
WASHINGTON, D.C. – August 19, 2013 – (RealEstateRama) — Congress is deliberating on key issues that affect Pennsylvanians who experience homelessness and is seeking to identify how local communities succeed at ending homelessness. The McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Program, the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and other key parts of the federal budget have a profound influence on how local communities successfully manage strategies to end homelessness. What is not well known by national decision makers is the actual scale of homelessness within their constituencies. This policy brief provides data that national decision makers can use when deliberating on critical issues.
An estimate by the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) found that 235,000 Pennsylvanians were homeless, living doubled up with family or friends in 2011. These data suggest that families and friends are taking care of our homeless neighbors. By contrast, the public homeless housing system served 34,657 in fiscal year 2012. The 34,657 number does not include homeless persons from one region who did not submit data for this report, who were denied or not allowed in shelter, census from domestic violence shelters, runaway youth, and people living on the street or other public places. Any change in federal resources will affect how local housing systems can respond to their constituents.
To read the full Executive Summary, click here.
