While circumstances can vary, the main reason people experience homelessness is because they cannot find housing they can afford. It is the scarcity of affordable housing in the United States, particularly in more urban areas where homelessness is more prevalent, that is behind their inability to acquire or maintain housing.
By the numbers:
· There are 643,067 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the United States. Of that number, 238,110 are people in families, and 404,957 are individuals.
· 17 percent of the homeless population is considered "chronically homeless," and 12 percent of the homeless population - 67,000 - are veterans.
These numbers come from point-in-time counts, which are conducted, community by community, on a single night in January every other year. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires communities to submit this data every other year in order to qualify for federal homeless assistance funds. Many communities conduct counts more regularly.
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Guyana
The Big Picture (Figures are not accessible at this time)
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Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.
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© Kwame A. Boyce/2011 |
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© Kwame A. Boyce/2011 |
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