National Homeless Data Sheds Light on Utah Issues
None by KCPW
(KCPW News) Three-quarters of a million people were homeless in the U.S. in 2005. That's according to the first national estimate of homelessness conducted in a decade. The National Alliance to End Homelessness study also found one-quarter of the individuals were chronically homeless and about 41 percent were in families.Utah homeless advocate Pamela Atkinson says those ratios apply to the Beehive State where the focus is now on keeping families from becoming homeless. She says that requires teaching families to use their income carefully and tapping into resources for food and clothing so they don't spend their rent money on those things.
An initiative known as "Housing First" is the centerpiece of Salt Lake County's ten-year plan to end homelessness. It includes offering housing to chronically homeless people, coupled with job counseling, training and substance abuse treatment. An apartment building dedicated to the effort will open its doors in downtown Salt Lake City this spring.
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1. Mike Dunn said:
One thing that would help Utahns is to stop accepting in our homeless roles people from other states that are given $50 and a bus ticket to get to Salt Lake City. This practice happens all to often.
3. Take Back Our Temple said:
We need a program to ship out this trash and all the other trash that are freeloading off our taxes and destroying our society. Even if we gave them a plane ticket and $1000 to leave the country, we would still be saving a huge amount of money. Please help the Jewish Task Force(jtf.org) save the US, America, and all western civilization.
2. Julie Velazquez said:
I just moved here recently from Colorado, and I can not believe how little this state does to help this problem. There is so much negativity on this issue. I think it is so sad, that people can't be more open minded about helping, instead of criticizing.