Thursday, March 1, 2007

Link of the Week: HUD Homeless Assessment Report

Here's another "in the news" link of the week. Perhaps you heard on the TV news or read in the newspaper that the government just acknowledged that "754,000 persons are living in emergency shelter, transitional housing, and on the streets on any given night." Well, if you are interested in reading the report that goes with that admission, the publication is called the Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, and it was just released to the web.

HUD (the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) says of their report: “This first-of-its kind study is a huge leap forward in our understanding of not only how many people are homeless, but also what their needs are,” said HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson. “We’ve got to remember that behind these numbers are people – individuals and families who are struggling to survive. This first report and those that follow will help us gauge how well our efforts, as well as those of our partners at the state and local level and the nonprofit sector, are working to help the homeless. We all must work in concert together to help our nation’s most vulnerable.”

HUD also produces Continuum of Care (CoC) Reports that provide information on homeless assistance grants. These include 2005 data on Massachusetts.

Besides these government resources there are, of course, many advocacy groups that produce reports and data. These include the National Alliance to End Homelessness which produced a Homelessness Counts report in January. The group also details various aspects of the problem in their "Focus Areas" that discuss specific topics like rural homelessness, domestic violence, and veterans.

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