Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

February 2016 – Seattle, Washington; Los Angeles, California; and Portland, Oregon, each declared homelessness to have reached a state of emergency in their cities last year. Seattle reported a 40% increase in homelessness from 2014 to 2015.

At the state level, California and New York led the nation in increased numbers of homeless people.

The U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department intends to increase efforts to end the homeless crisis of an estimated 564,708 people by 2017. Homelessness declined by 2% from 2014 to 2015, and by 11% since 2007, according to annual figures from HUD.

However, an anonymous homeless shelter director in the Southern U.S. told Christian Post that HUD is more concerned with reducing numbers than improving lives, as her shelter has seen since receiving government funding and being required to follow HUD guidelines that have lowered successful rehabilitation rates from 85% to 74%.

“They just want data showing people off the streets,” she said. “But higher standards strive to treat the whole person with a goal toward full rehabilitation.”

christianpost.com, 12/1/15