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Katie Couric gets it! Her op-ed column conveys kids' suffering and the urgency to act on the issue of homelessness for families and teens.
Practical Need--Graduation Gowns What a huge shame it would be for homeless teen to get through high school and not be able to participate in the graduation ceremony.
OMG! Another enlightened story! NPR aired a great story that featured a 2-parent couple and Barbara Anderson, a long-time activist from Indiana. They all do a superb job at describing issues facing families and communities.
Another solid piece on plight of homeless kids...PBS offers an 8-minute segment that gives a good perspective of homeless students from their perspective and from that of the schools. Just makes me wonder--what will happen as a result?
Sad, but no surprise...Schnectady, NY and other "out-state" cities report soaring numbers of impoverished kids and families. When articles refer to "living in poverty" does anyone have a clue as to what that really means?
Amazing coverage...Someday someone will explain how homeless (highly-mobile) kids escaped attention for so long, then received a spate of media coverage. Time again does a good job on the story. Now if we can start finding solutions...
Perhaps the best article...I've seen on homelessness ala motels is today's NYT article. You can smell the cheap pasta cooking, which is one way that families survive in these cramped quarters. This story will give you a sense of being in one of the countless "no-tell-motels" that are the homeless shelter of the 21st Century.
It's About Time...Finally someone has raised the number of homeless children in the U.S. Time Magazine has a good article on the extent of invisible homeless children, pre-economic demise.
Wichita Homeless Family Spike--All Income Levels. It's not just the generational poor who become homeless, it's the middle income families hitting the streets too. Shelters aren't enough. When will something be done to reverse this dire trend?
Painful Stories Tell the Story of countless families struggling to survive across the country. The question I have--why do we lament the cost of providing the services that could have been avoided had we spent less on keeping families from being homeless in the first place? Argh!
Give me a flippin' break! Perhaps this government official had gold dust in his eyes, not able to see that Nevada, especially the gambling meccas of Las Vegas and Reno, has an exploding population of homeless families. Before the latest economic implosion, NV families by the thousands have turned to motels and doubling up with family/friends to avoid sleeping on the streets. Family shelters are as rare as big payouts in the Silver State.
From the Land of Lincoln...suburban Chicago schools, and those in Chicago, are reporting huge surges in homeless students. Knowing that area, the beleaguered agencies cannot begin to keep up. School is of the utmost importance to these kids.
Hooray for Henrietta! But don't settle for a presidential peck on the cheek. Henrietta is the courageous woman who bared her homeless soul at Obama's FL town hall meeting. Hopefully everyone won't think homelessness is solved because someone gave one family a house to live in. How about some Obama bucks from the stimulus?
Delusion Reigns, for Now...So yet another media blitz extoling the faux decrease in homelessness, glossing over the reality of the report documenting a soaring increase of homeless families/teens (see When Times are Tough). The distorted statistics on New Hampshire's homeless census are a perfect example of HUD's media campaign to end homelessness. It's a lot cheaper than actually addressing the root causes.
When Times are Tough Homeless Families Show It...We're not making this up, homelessness among families has exploded as this nation's economy swirls down the sewer. This AP/ABC News report cites the newly-released report from NAEHCY/First Focus and includes comments from knowledgeable front-line people. Surprising, Phil Mangano even agrees that it's a problem....
Lots of Orange Trees and Homeless Families...Central Florida has its share of homeless families, and they struggle mightily to keep some kind of roof over their heads. Busing costs probably exceed the cost to house the families, which, gosh, seems like someone would have started working on....
Sounding a Lot Less Than 'Ho-Hum,' Homeless Liaison Points to Rising Numbers...Totally different story when you talk to someone who works with homeless families all day. This story, from a DC suburb, is a good indication homelessness is not ho-hum to those who really care.
Ho-Ho-Hum...Mayors Say Homelessness and Hunger is Rising...it is rising, and it's tragic. But the cookie-cutter report each year at this time from US Council of Mayors, some of whom would love homeless people to vanish no matter how, seems, well, ho-hum.
Better late than never...I missed this article when it first ran, but it's worth revisiting. It covers--on a surface level, the definition of homelessness issue. Although legislative action has been delayed, it will be revisited. Read it from the perspective of a homeless family...
It Plays in Peoria...Imagine my delight this morning as I perused the headlines and saw this coverage depicting the invisible homeless population--families and children. If the Peoria Journal Star gets it, is the rest of the country soon to follow? Sure hope so...
Snake Oil Salesman? Keeping track of US Homelessness "czar" Phil Mangano would take an agency the size of the FBI. But his spiel is the same, and he schmoozes his way city-by-city pushing the "chronic homelessness initiative." The only problem, no one figures out that he's ignored families and teens until it's too late.
Compare responses on the numbers of homeless people in the U.S. from 3 years ago to current observations by the "esteemed" gurus of homelessness who steadfastly opposed the expansion of the definition of homelessness to include families and teens:
No explaining their slow learning curve....
Elsewhere, NBC news ran a story on increasing numbers of homeless families. One watching it could get the idea it's the kids' faults they ended up being a burden to school districts. Ouch!
Explain something to me...why is it that when the federal government comes out with a story on homelessness, i.e. drop in numbers, we see either Dennis Culhane or Nan Roman being quoted? When the story is based on false data, one would think true advocates would be chiding the government, if not denouncing the distortions, like Michael Stoops of the National Coalition for the Homeless does.
The tip of the story of how foreclosed-upon families cope with homelessness gives readers an idea of the scarce options for alternative housing arrangements. Media hasn't begun to explore the dreadful lack of options of the shredded safety net people assume will help.Nor did the writer mention the all- important thing to the kids: they can stay in their same school or get into the new neighborhood school because they are now HOMELESS.
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