What are some of the barriers to ending homelessness?
• Funding for agencies addressing homelessness has been hovering around $1 to $1.2 billion since 1996, despite a dramatic increase in homelessness during that time. About 75% of emergency shelters rely in part or whole on government funding, and cuts at the federal level hurt the ability of local agencies to meet increasing need. • The number of “working poor” families needing shelter services has increased: a full one-quarter of the families in emergency shelter earn too much to qualify for public assistance. At the same time, revenue for emergency shelter for families from public sources has decreased every year since 1991. As a result, the number of “slots” for families has decreased as have the resources and services available to families.
