Nearly half of New York City’s homeless are children

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jan2004/nyc-j07.shtml

New York City began the New Year with the largest numbers of men, women and especially children crowding into its shelters since the city began keeping records 20 years ago. According to the city’s Department of Homeless Services, the night of January 2 saw 38,222 homeless people forced to turn to the city’s municipal shelter system. Another 1,500 or so beds were filled in churches and other private facilities.

Out of this total, at least 16,600 were children, 18 and under. They constitute 43 percent of municipal shelter residents and are by far the largest and fastest-growing segment. This is an increase from 2000, when about 38.5 percent of those living in shelters were children.

Adults in families account for the second largest percentage of shelter residents, at 35 percent. Single adults comprise the remaining 22 percent.

The average stay for families and their children in the shelters has nearly doubled from 6 months in 1992 to 11 months today.

The numbers have increased only gradually in the last 12 months, but the plateau they have reached is almost twice the number compared to six years ago. In January 1998, there were over 21,000 people living in the city shelters, with just 4,400 of them consisting of families with children. By mid-1998 the number of New York families seeking emergency shelter started increasing rapidly, reaching a rate of 22 percent in 2001 followed by 35 percent in 2002.

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How many times are lunkheads going to keep voting for these irresponsible trust fund babies? Didn't the gilded age teach them anything?!