Homeless Surge In N.Y. Symbol Of New Crisis
Curled up on sidewalks and jammed into crowded shelters, the masses of homeless men, women and children in this city have reached record numbers, surpassing the worst levels of the last recession.</br></br>About 29,400 homeless live in city shelters and hot-plate hotel rooms each night, including 12,500 children. They are the face of a poor New York that supposedly vanished after the early 1990s.</br></br>Now they are everywhere. A decaying economy and, even more important, a severe lack of affordable housing have driven the current crisis. In the past few years, housing costs in New York's poor neighborhoods have spiked sharply, rising far faster than in wealthy districts.</br></br>Homelessness has jumped 13 percent nationwide this year. In Chicago, homelessness jumped 22 percent, in San Francisco, 20 percent. In Washington, the number of homeless families has risen by 32 percent -- after four years of decline. D.C. Village, the city's intake shelter for families, is at capacity, and about 600 men and women bed down each night on city streets.</br></br>The problem is most pronounced in the Northeast, where rental housing costs are among the nation's highest. In Massachusetts, there has been a 40 percent rise in homeless families since August 1999. "It's exploded on us," said Dick Powers of the state's homeless agency. "The reason is very simple: There's no affordable housing."