RECESSION WATCH - WV Homeless Increase Leads Nation

(01/13/2009)

The number of homeless people increased in West Virginia between January 2005 and January 2007 more quickly than almost anywhere in the nation, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Homelessness in the Mountain State rose by 58 percent during that period, according to the report. The state had 2,409 homeless people in January 2007. West Virginia was one of 18 states where the number of homeless increased. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development collected the statistics used in the new study. Nationally, 58 percent of all homeless people lived in homeless shelters or transitional housing. The other 42 percent slept on the street or in cars, woods, campsites and abandoned buildings. Only 11 percent of West Virginia's homeless slept in unsheltered environments. More than one-third (37 percent) of the homeless are families, according to the report.

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