The Statistic
by Tony Chavira
It's really unfortunate that most people think of homeless people when they think of cities. The vast majority of homeless people live in rural areas and, these days, a rising number live in suburbia. In fact, the largest amount of growth in homelessness is occuring in the suburbs, which is not exactly what you would expect when you have a vision for a suburban lifestyle in mind. As much as I (and many others) want to focus on density and urbanism, we need to find a smart way to address suburban homelessness simply because the suburbs are still such a large and inescapble component of American planning history.
Though located in DuPage County, Colorado, Mister Jerry Moore has a great but intense post on the blog "MySuburbanLife" that really gives an ominous view on how much worse things are going in the sprawled suburban community. Here's a killer snippet:
Last year, 74 people in the western suburbs were listed as unsheltered homeless, compared with 52 in 2007. The number of chronically unsheltered people in the west region rose to 35 in 2009 from 13 in 2007.
Children younger than 18 made up 32 percent of the homeless sheltered and 6 percent of the unsheltered homeless, the report said.
These numbers paint a bleak picture and deserve serious consideration. A concerted effort must be made by entire communities to provide the resources necessary to keep families with children from having to live on the street.
You said it, Jerry.
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