The Growing Homeless in America

The working classes subjected to America's subprime mortgage crisis are building the nation's homeless.

According to an April 2008 report by the National Coalition for the Homeless, the top 10 states with foreclosures attributed to 73% of the homeless. Those states were: California, Florida, Ohio, Texas, Michigan, Georgia, Illinois, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada. In 2007 the top 10, consisting of California, Florida, Texas, New York, Arizona, Ohio, Georgia, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Virginia, attributed to 58% of the homeless. The top 10 map is changing and the homeless are spreading out.

A chart in that report shows that in 2007, Michigan, Illinois, Colorado, and Nevada fell below the top 10, while New York, Ohio, Georgia, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Virginia joined the upper ranks. Though 73% to 58% appears to be a drop in the overall foreclosures and the number of homeless resulting from them, that assumption is misleading. It shows a shift to a wider spread map of foreclosures and homelessness around the country.

More states are being affected and the top 10 is beginning to spread out the percentage among them. Though the mortgage crisis is hitting America's poorest counties the hardest, it has also extended like a plague into the neighborhoods of the upper middle class. The nation's poor, urban dwellers, and those retired or on fixed incomes being affected the most. The foreclosure crisis is hitting a wide spectrum of individuals.

A perfect example of the new class of homeless is Barbara Harvey, the former loan processor in California, now living in her car. Her daughter had to move in with friends and Ms. Harvey moved into her car with her two labs. Fortunately, California has now set up a few of these sheltered parking areas for these car dwellers. Working for $8 and hour and collecting social security, she cannot afford rent or her former house. She is not alone.

Many in the US see the homeless in their city and turn away assuming drunkenness, drug use or mental illness. But more and more those homeless are the people living next door to them. Unfortunately, statistics on the homeless are being provided less by the government than by local news, coalitions like NCH and others. So far, the government seems to have been more interested in keeping the economy going and providing assistance for the banks than compiling statistics on how many citizens have moved out onto the streets.

In 2005, the number of homeless was between 50,000 and 100,000. In 2007, with record numbers of foreclosures, that number increased to the upper end of the 250,000 range with 2008 on the rise and showing the mirroring trend of increasing homelessness. Hopefully, the government's priorities will change before these numbers rise much further.

For further information, see:

"Foreclosure to Homelessness: the Forgotten Victims of the Subprime Crisis; a national call to action"
The National Coalition for the Homeless, April 2008,
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/housing/foreclosure_report.pdf

Mom forced to live in her car with her dogs, by Thelma Gutierrez and Wayne Drash
CNN.com, May 20, 2008
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/19/homeless.mom/index.html