Out of Control Homelessness

According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, more than 50,000 homeless people are in NYC shelters on any given night. But rather than fitting the stereotype of older men, nearly half of these are children (1% of the city’s youth). For the first time since 1987, the average homeless family is staying in a shelter for more than a year.

Now homelessness in New York is, sadly, nothing new. But in the words of the article, ” it has become an escalating crisis in recent years amid a chronic shortage of affordable housing and an unemployment rate higher than state and national levels.” And New York is not alone. Other U.S. cities have seen their homeless numbers increase, creating a national trend.

Here at MortgageKeeper, we’ve seen a gradual uptick in the searches for “basic need” services. Counselors and individuals have made food assistance and affordable housing very popular in our list of 20+ categories.

It’s not a trend we love to see.

As the economic stall in the United States continue, those hardest hit will need more and more of the basics until they can get back on their feet. Here at MK, we continue to make sure that our data provides the best information possible to those who desperately need it.