- About Homelessness - News & Events - Take Action - About Us
Homelessness Fact Sheet for Middle School Students National
Alliance to End Homelessness Fact Sheets | January 10, 2010
Files: PDF | 1.87 MB | 3 pages Widespread homelessness didn’t
always exist; however, during the 1980s homelessness increased
significantly. Now, on any given night, approximately 672,000
men, women, and children are homeless in the US. The major cause
of homelessness in the US is the lack of affordable housing.
This deficit is caused by a low supply of inexpensive housing
and low incomes which prevent households from being able to
afford housing. This growing scarcity of affordable housing,
combined with the deinstitutionalization of our most vulnerable
citizens and a growing gap between earnings and the cost of
living, has left hundreds of thousands of individuals and
families homeless. In response, the federal government created a
$2 billion homeless assistance system. This system met the
immediate food, shelter, and services ne