No Happy New Year for many in U.S.

From ILCA

While the Bush administration says the U.S. economy is improving, those improvements are not reaching many of the country's working poor, a report from a U.S. mayors' group indicated. The annual U.S. Conference of Mayors-Sodexho USA Hunger and Homelessness Survey reveals hunger and homelessness are on the rise in cities, the 20th consecutive year for such increases.

'These are not simply statistics,' said Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell, co-chairman of the conference's Task Force on Hunger and Homelessness. 'These are real people, many are families with children, who are hungry and homeless in our cities. Unfortunately, the results of this year's survey tell us that we are still far short in meeting the challenges of our neediest citizens.'

The data were provided by community-based organizations -- including food pantries and soup kitchens -- and government agencies throughout the country.

And the National Low Income Housing Coalition said in its recent annual report, 'Out of Reach,' a wage earner must earn at least three times the federal minimum wage to afford rent and utilities for one or two-bedroom apartments.

California is the least affordable state, where the coalition estimated that an hourly wage average of $21.24 is necessary to provide housing.

A lack of affordable housing, poverty and low-paying jobs were all among factors attributed to the worsening conditions.

According to the mayors' conference, requests for emergency shelter grew in the 27 survey cities by an average of 6 percent, with 70 percent of the cities registering an increase; requests for emergency food assistance increased by an average of 14 percent with 96 percent of the cities registering an increase.

Emergency food requests went up by an average of 13 percent for families with children and by 12 percent for the elderly.

They also said 67 percent of the survey cities reported facilities have had to limit the quantity of food provided and the number of times families or individuals could receive food. On average, 20 percent of the demand for food had gone unmet.

Overall, the homeless population is primarily comprised of families with children at 40 percent.

And while the growth in demand is smaller than it was the previous year -- the lowest since 1998 for food, and the lowest for shelter since 1997 -- demand is expected to continue to go up in 2005, particularly if there are freezes or cuts in domestic spending programs.

Specifically, 88 percent of the cities said officials expect a rise in food demand, with an 84-percent rise from families with children; 78 percent said they anticipate emergency shelter requests from families with children to grow in 2005.

Assistant Executive Director of the Conference of Mayors Gene Lowe, who wrote the report, said it was a 'surprise the data revealed the demand was half of what it was' the previous year, but it's important to note 'there's still an increase ... and the numbers are still all bad.'

Lowe said that the decrease in comparison to prior years could be just an anomaly, indicative of a specific time and place.

'It's good to look (at the reports) over a period of time ... and it's why they've used the same cities over the last 20 years,' he said.

'The demand for food is really quite severe,' Lowe told United Press International. Yet, 'it should be the one we could solve (compared with) the terrible problems we can't overcome.'

Greater demand for food jumped the highest in the Louisville, Ky., metropolitan area, at 32 percent, and officials there reported a 91-percent spike coming from families with children.

The greatest increased demand for shelter occurred in Providence, R.I., at 24 percent, though the greatest increase from families came from Santa Monica, Calif., with a 50-percent growth rate.

New York is no longer a survey participant, despite having the necessary mechanisms in place to record activity, despite a reported greater demand from area providers, and despite the recession that hit the city particularly hard after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, said, 'There's been a clear pattern in New York City ... a record high (for emergency food demand) since the great depression. ... In 1980, there were 30 agencies providing food. In 2004, there are over 12,000.'

Berg said he has seen a 9-percent increase in food demand 'just in the last year, and a 48-percent increase over the previous three years ... but, nearly half a million fewer people are receiving food stamps than a decade ago.'

Berg saw no positive interpretation in the data. 'The rate of increase may be slowing down, not the number of people facing hunger,' he said. 'It still means the (numbers) are worse than ever.'

There is some good news, according to Jim Anderson, spokesman for the city's Department of Homeless Services. He said New York has done a better job over the last few years of making the system more responsible and therefore more effective, thus stabilizing the growth of shelter demand among families.

'The number of families requesting emergency shelter is unacceptably high. But it's not increasing, and even slightly decreasing.' There has been, Anderson admitted, 'a significant increase on the single adult side though.'

Lowe is encouraged by what he sees as a burgeoning nationwide movement, spearheaded by the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

That plan is to end chronic homelessness within 10 years, and Lowe is heartened by the fact all levels of government in the country have been getting involved and pointed to the fact that President Bush included it in his budget for the last several years.

But, Lowe said, 'We still need resources,' and if the administration makes the kind of cutbacks to programs like Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers and Community Development Block Grants that it's proposing, 'we're going to feel that, no question about it.'

There has been some controversy about the mayors' report. The conservative Heritage Foundation think tank called the report 'exaggerated.'

Lowe believes the criticism is unwarranted. 'Heritage is looking at something totally different ... at the number who are hungry in their count. Our survey talks about food requests actually made (at the kitchens and pantries), and that is going up. We wouldn't dare try to quantify the numbers of hungry or homeless. We don't have that capacity,' he said.