Child and Family Homelessness: The faces behind the numbers

CINCINNATI - The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that homelessness was down 2 percent* in 2011 vs. 2010 across the country, but some argue that the numbers are misleading.

The answer to the question of how many people are homeless may differ depending on who you ask and their definition of homelessness. And money to help people in need ties to the definition. Behind the red tape, there are real people like Lynda York who know all too well the true meaning of the word.

York works second shift at the Travelodge in Newport, Ky.  Last summer, the hotel doubled as home for York and her three children.

"It was hard. Three months of living in a hotel is not fun," York said. "I had probably been at the hotel a couple of weeks when everybody started telling me to call churches and agencies."

York says the Brighton Center in Covington, Ky., helped her when no one else would.

"I actually fell on hard times," York said. "Got with somebody I really shouldn't have been with. He doesn't have children of his own and so I have three which was kind of a problem. We was together for two years and then he just decided he didn't want kids. So, we ended up getting into it when he told me to leave and I went and stayed at the hotel I worked for."

Brighton Center was able to help York through federal dollars from the Recovery Act of 2009.

"I stayed depressed a lot and because of my depression, they stayed depressed," York said. "So they kind of did everything they -- I have the best kids ever -- so did everything they could to cheer me up. It was hard living in two rooms. These rooms aren't very big. And I learned how to cook everything through a microwave. Everything. If it can be cooked, I cooked it in a microwave."  

York's children's education was not disrupted during this time. They continued to be enrolled in a private school in the Ludlow School District.

Watch Lynda's full story on 9 News at 6.

Barbara Duffield of the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth says HUD's definition should be the same as the Department of Education's definition for homelessness which includes children who are doubled up,  which means they're staying with friends or relatives because they can't afford a place of their own, and those living in motels.

"When the Department of Housing and Urban Development announces as it did in December of last month that family homelessness was down 2 percent but public schools saw that homelessness was up 20 percent, it creates a big problem," Duffield said. "It makes it look like one agency says homelessness is going down but the reality is more and more children, families and youth don't have their own place to stay. So the difference between definitions is very problematic."

And the definition can limit the sort of resources available to families and individuals experiencing homelessness. HUD recently updated their definition to get closer to the Department of Education's definition to help serve more people like Lynda who would be in imminent risk of being homeless, but when HUD counts the homeless, they're only counting the unsheltered (or street) homeless population and those occupying beds in emergency shelters and transitional housing programs.
(This information and the graphs surrounding this story are a part of soon to be released study on family homelessness conducted by The Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition. The full report will be released on February 16.)

Josh Spring of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless said, "If they did count accurately, the numbers would be much bigger than they're showing now and therefore invoke more responsibility and it would show the truth of how bad we're doing."

Federal dollars from the Recovery Act to help end homelessness expire mid-year, however HUD says there will be more money available, just a lot less money than originally granted in 2009. Nationally, HUD distributed $1.5 billion in homelessness prevention dollars through the Homeless Prevention Rapid Re-Housing Program since 2009. In 2011, $386 million will be available to states through the new Emergency Solutions Grant Program that allows for communities to engage in prevention and rapid re-housing, in much the same way as the expiring program. The City of Cincinnati will receive $1,017,671.

"If I could hit the lottery and win millions of dollars, I would open just a big, huge shelter," York said. "Just kind of like apartments for homeless men and women, whether they have kids or not 'cause it's horrible. I wouldn't want to do it again, ever again. And I don't like seeing people go through it."

THE NUMBERS

Homeless People in Families in Cincinnati/Hamilton County in 2010 (not including those who are doubled-up or in hotels/motels)
2,109 annually
According to Strategies to End Homelessness (formerly known as Cincinnati/Hamilton County Continuum of Care for the Homeless, Inc.)

Homeless Individuals (including families) in Cincinnati/Hamilton County in 2010 (not including those who are doubled-up or in hotels/motels)
6,565 annually
According to Strategies to End Homelessness (formerly known as Cincinnati/Hamilton County Continuum of Care for the Homeless, Inc.)

Number of beds for families in the shelter system in City of Cincinnati/Hamilton County:
229 (broken down below)
Interfaith Hospitality Network = 32
Mercy Franciscan St. Johns (multiple facilities) = 78
Salvation Army = 24
YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter = 65
Bethany House = 30
*according to Strategies to End Homelessness (formerly known as Cincinnati/Hamilton County Continuum of Care for the Homeless, Inc.)

Number of homeless students enrolled in public schools in 2010/11:
US - **
Ohio - 21,849
Cincinnati City SD - 3,009
KY - 33,198
Covington SD - 596

** From the 2007/08 to the 2009/10 school year, Department of Education officials say there’s been an 18%increase over the three-year period in homeless children enrolled in public school. Officials also say the 2010/11 school year’s numbers have not yet been released, but they say preliminary reports suggest that there may have been a double-digit percentage increase from 2009/10 to 2010/11 school year.

Number of homeless students enrolled in public schools in 2009/10:
US -  939,903
Ohio- 19,113
Cincinnati City SD- 2,474
KY - 23,113
Covington SD - 491

For more on the numbers, see all the enlarged graphs on this page in a larger format at http:// www.wcpo.com/gallery/news/news_photo_gallery/homelessness-the-numbers.

RELATED STATISTICS
The National Center on Family Homelessness reported 1.6 million children to be homeless in America at the end of 2010, a 38% increase from 2007 -2010.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness announced a 1% decrease in overall homelessness from 2009 - 2011.

*In December, HUD announced the number of persons living unsheltered or in shelters declined by just over 2 percent from 2010 to 2011, to approximately 636,000 persons. Importantly, this overall decline reflects reductions in all sub-groups: individuals, the chronically homeless, veterans and families with children. The reduction in homelessness among families was 2.4 percent from 2010 and 5.0 percent since 2007.