Cost of Homelessness; Artist Builds Homes From Trash

People complain about the homeless all the time, thinking that they are a bunch of bums who don’t want to work. In reality according to United States Conference of Mayors the major causes of homelessness is lack of affordable housing (72%), poverty (52%) and unemployment (44%).

I Just Gotta Eco Ya

• In January 2014, there were 578,424 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the United States.
• 216,197 are people in families
• 362,163 are individuals.
• 15 % of the homeless population – 84,291 – are considered “chronically homeless” individuals
• 9% of homeless people- 49,933 – are veterans.
• 2013 One out of 30 children or 2.5 million children in America will be homeless each year

The cost of the homeless to taxpayers is huge:

• Oklahoma: The total cost of homelessness for the year was almost $29 million. (Source)
• It costs, between shelters and emergency rooms and jails, it costs about $40,000 a year for a homeless person to be on the streets.” Secretary Shaun Donovan on The Daily Show 
• Homeless visit ER in hospitals more frequently averaging 5 times per year. Costs $3,700 or  $18,500 spent per year for the average person and $44,400 /year for the highest users. (Source)
• San Diego County;  $309 million 2013 on the homeless or those considered at risk for homelessness. That is in addition to what individual cities spend. (Source) This does not include, hospitals and jail time.
• New York Homeless Shelter Spending to reach $800 Million (Source)
• Utah has decreased the number of homeless by 72% by finding and building affordable apartments. In a program called Housing First they have been able to reduce the cost of homelessness from $20,000 per person to $8,000 per person with a close of zero by this year.

Many people complain about the homeless, yet others such as Greg Kloehn take to the streets and combs through illegal dumpsites, picks up stuff and make homes for the homeless from scraps.

As Greg Kloehn says on his website, he will go anywhere to help start building homeless shelters anywhere. All he needs is a plane ticket and a place to stay. Kudos to him to help save and solve our homeless situations.

Sources

• Homeless Homes Project 
• Newsweek 
• National Alliance To End Homelessness 
• Mother Jones