[Source: Yvonne Wingett, Arizona Republic] — More single adults, families, and youths are living on the streets in metro Phoenix. A Maricopa Association of Governments survey counted 2,918 homeless people throughout the county this year, a 20 percent increase from the 2,426 counted in 2008. The Homeless Street Count found 230 families living on the streets, up 370 percent from last year’s count of 49 families. The number of youths living on their own rose to 139, more than triple last year’s count.
Each January, hundreds of agency workers, police officers, city employees and volunteers hit the streets to count the homeless. Their findings are used to request federal funding for homeless services and to improve and expand services for non-profits. This year’s increase in the homeless population comes after a 15 percent decline a year ago, said Brande Mead, a human-services planner with the Maricopa Association of Governments.
The count does not include the number of people living in shelters, which numbered nearly 5,000 last year, she said. The state Department of Economic Security is conducting this year’s shelter survey; the results could be available early next week, Mead said.
The bad economy is to blame for the increase in the homeless population, experts said. “We’re seeing more elderly, more disabled (homeless),” said Mark Holleran, CEO of Central Arizona Shelter Services, or CASS, in downtown Phoenix. “It just appears to be the overall result of what’s happening… with the loss of jobs and the shaky economy” and with government agencies cutting back. There is also an uptick in the number of homeless veterans, Holleran said, which he thinks could further increase as a result of the war in Iraq. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]
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