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EDITORIAL: Homelessness is an actual problem that demands action

3 min read

A new president is ensconced at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., and a new Congress has been sworn in. Once they get settled into their offices, they should get to work trying to solve actual problems.

And one of them is homelessness in America.

Sure, homelessness is a perennial problem, and it will probably never be fully eradicated. But it’s something that more and more people in this country are having to confront, according to data recently released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

It found that homelessness increased by 18% in a one-year span, based on a survey that was conducted last January. This follows a 12% increase the year before. All told, that’s the highest number of homeless Americans since tracking began on the federal level almost 20 years ago. There’s a strong possibility that these numbers underestimate the extent of the problem, since they don’t account for individuals and families who have had to stay with members of their extended family or on the couches of friends.

In 2022, about 13,000 Pennsylvania residents were homeless, according to HUD, and that accounts for a little more than 2% of the nationwide number.

Another troubling data point is there’s been a 6% increase in homelessness among those aged 65 and older.

What has caused this? The protections and aid that were put in place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have expired, there has been a host of natural disasters that have befallen the country, and some migrants struggle to find housing. The costs of health care can overwhelm some household budgets. Some individuals who are homeless have problems with drug addiction or mental illness, and others are escaping from domestic violence. It’s been estimated that about half of all women and children who are homeless are fleeing domestic violence.

However, for many people struggling to find a place to live, the costs associated with home ownership, or even being a renter, have become onerous. Last year, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities noted that a gap has opened between the earnings of Americans and the cost of renting an apartment or other dwellings. The think tank pointed out that since 2001, the median cost of rent has leapt by 19% when adjusted for inflation, while the income of those doing the renting has only gone up by 4%.

Policy analysts Anna Bailey, Peggy Bailey and Erik Gartland wrote that “the nation’s housing policies have failed to prioritize ensuring that everyone has affordable housing. As a result, many people with low incomes face severe rent burdens which lead to housing instability and can result in homelessness – and large-scale homelessness remains a feature of modern American life.”

Among the solutions they put forward are increases in rental assistance and supportive services that would help people find employment, find affordable housing or receive health care. In this region, City Mission in Washington and Uniontown and the United Veterans Billeting of Fayette County do yeoman’s work in sheltering homeless people and helping them get their bearings.

The late British journalist Dawn Foster wrote that the homeless “often feel invisible, allowed to plummet through widening holes in the social safety net, then hidden in doorways from which people avert their eyes.”

America can – and should – do better.

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