Homeless Climbing In New York and in the USA.

State of the Homeless 2011


April 11, 2011

By Patrick Markee, Senior Policy Analyst, and Giselle Routhier, Policy Analyst

In the midst of high unemployment, the steady loss of affordable housing, and years of failed policies under the Bloomberg administration, an all-time high number of New Yorkers turned to homeless shelters last year and the New York City homeless shelter population is now larger than at any time since the City began keeping records.

An all-time record 119,553 homeless people - including 44,888 children - slept in municipal shelters in FY 2010, an 8 percent increase from the previous year and a 37 percent increase from FY 2002 when Mayor Bloomberg took office.

This includes a record 28,977 families, a 15 percent increase from the previous year and a remarkable 81 percent more than when Mayor Bloomberg took office.

And by the end of February of this year, the nightly census of homeless adults and children in the municipal shelter system - 39,542 people - reached the highest point ever recorded.

In the midst of this historic homelessness crisis, the Bloomberg administration's only response has been to defend its failed policies. Unlike previous New York City mayors from Ed Koch through Rudy Giuliani, Mayor Bloomberg refuses to use proven and cost-effective Federal housing programs to move homeless families from shelters to stable homes. Instead, for more than six years the Bloomberg administration has replaced proven Federal programs with a series of untested, time-limited subsidies like the recently-terminated Advantage program.



However, City data show that these flawed time-limited subsidies have forced thousands of formerly-homeless children and families back into the shelter system and homelessness, at tremendous expense to taxpayers.
Since the Bloomberg administration cut off homeless families from proven Federal housing programs and replaced them with time-limited subsidies like the Advantage program, more than twice as many formerly-homeless families enter the shelter system each year.

In the seven years before Mayor Bloomberg's misguided policy change, an average of 2,003 formerly-homeless "repeat families" entered the shelter system each year, but in the five years after the change, an average of 5,020 "repeat families" entered the shelter system each year, a remarkable 151 percent increase. And in FY 2010, an all-time record 6,294 "repeat families" entered the shelter system.

Before the Mayor's time-limited subsidies were implemented, only one in four families (25 percent) entering the shelter system was formerly-homeless, while now nearly half (47 percent) of all families entering the shelter system was once homeless

Homeless Project.

Need favor from God in your life? Proverbs 28:27 He who gives to the poor will lack nothing. I have worked very, hard for the last three years and we are less than two thousand dollars away from reaching our goal for a project that shall glorify God almighty; also help many who no longer can see hope. We are a 501c-3 Non-profit. If my face book friends would all give any amount we can bring this vision alive. Donate at http://hislovestreet.com/  (no gift is too small).

Compassion, Is Not Compassion; Unless You Get Involved And Do God's Will.

"Sorrow for the sufferings or trouble of another or others, accompanied by an urge to help; deep sympathy" Today with the world growing smaller and getting crowded it is almost impossible for anyone to learn true compassion unless it is taught to them while young, or it was born into them...into their spirit.

God demands His people to have compassion on others. Jesus' second comandment was "You shall love your nieghbor as thyself".
The word "nieghbor" doesn't just mean the guy who lives next door, it means EVERYONE!

Not just the people that you want to be kind to....not just the ones you like already and know already...but EVERYONE.
Some of you reading this may say "I can't do that it's not who I am"
This is why God gets angry...we live in our own self-made worlds leaving God outside knocking on our door but we only hear His knock when we are going through something ourselves and need Him.
We get hurt and want to shut others off from our world...we can't see past our hurt
God loves us so much but we turn our heads from Him when it's not convenient...because when we turn our heads away from a fellow human being, we are turning away from God.

In the Bible it says God is a jealous God. He wants all our love...and he wants you to love everyone he created.
Life is not about the worldly things you can get or achieve or being thought of as a great person. Life is about loving God and others...period.
A person who laughs at God and His followers is only a person who is lacking knowledge and only listens to themselves or others who think the same way because it makes them feel safe in the world they believe is true. " Make A Difference In A Life " His Love Street; http://hislovestreet.com/

Compassion, Is Not Compassion; Unless You Get Involved And Do God's Will.

Female Veterans Face Unemployment and Homelessness

The Huffington Post is reporting that despite the growing number of women serving in the armed forces, female veterans are still less accepted on the home front. American communities more readily accept -- and offer help to -- male service members, while female veterans are left to navigate unemployment, homlessness, hunger, and physical and mental abuse alone after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the article, despite fighting and dying in wars, women are still not accorded the same level of respect as their male counterparts. There are some organizations, like U.S. Vets Initiative in California, that are trying to help female veterans, but they are few and far between.

Female veterans also face "a shocking amount" of sexual harassment and sexual assault, so many are returning with sexual trauma on top of post-traumatic stress disorder. Talk about being kicked while down. We have got to do more to protect women while they are abroad and to help them get back on their feet when they return home. For any veteran, male or female, to be living on the streets after serving this country is unacceptable.

Trinity Broadcasting-The Holy Land Experience

Holy Land Experience is a great place if you are single or have a family. My sister Jan Crouch; has brought alive this theme park that takes you back to the days of Christ. Trinity Broadcast Network has been a blessing in my life for many years. When I came to the Lord TBN lifted my spirit with the word and entertained  me with awesome Christian Television. Love my brother and sister in Christ "Jan and Paul Crouch.  http://www.holylandexperience.com/about/about.html

A Letter from Rock Bottom.

I write this from the public library, a 40 minute walk from the homeless shelter where I now reside with my children. Not a victim of the recession, but of playing the hand of a full house, and being beaten out by a royal flush. I speak metaphorically.I did everything I could to resist being here, but in the end the weight of the world pressed down too hard. Failure at a certain task is easy to overcome,failure at life is the worst obstacle.


It's not truly a bad place.The staff is kind and caring and they focus not on why you came to be here, but how to help you move forward.

A very kind soul named Emily has been the glue to hold my shattered spirit together. Listening to me without judgement and letting me cry when the emotion is too much to contain.I always thought I would be the one to help homeless people, never the flip side.

Too many events in my life have made me numb and mistrustful. Now I rely on the kindness of strangers and I have to let pride fall by the wayside. This is so very difficult for me.

You never know when life will throw you a curve ball and you will end up like this.

I try to stay positive, especially around my kids. They need to see me smile. They need to know that things will be OK.

I save my tears for when they are asleep. My kids miss home, the one they knew for many years, and sometimes their emotions spill over, and it breaks my heart. Forward from here is to find a safe place, no easy task..

Consider this my journal, and MODS move where you see fit...

I have hit the bottom with no where to go but up, and ATS has been a constant for me, and right now I need the stability. I'll update when I can... Help us make a difference in a life. http://Hislovestreetministries.com/

A place to lay their heads: Ministry to the homeless struggles during these times.

They are the cautionary tales, lost souls destroyed by drugs, mental illness, abandonment and hopelessness.They are the ones we cross the street to avoid, their hands outstretched and pleading, their eyes hollow, their clothes tattered, their appearance unsettling. It is because of them that we count our blessings.In passing and with a sharp twinge of guilt, we want to help, "if only we could."
Seth Murphy understands that feeling, but rather than walking by, he's doing something about it.

In July 2003, Murphy was working at a homeless shelter in Blue Mountain when it changed its focus and became a drug rehabilitation center. Many of those living at the shelter were once more put back on the streets.Murphy, along with a friend he'd been working alongside, took two of the men they had come to know and trust to stay temporarily at his mother's house in Oxford, where they slept on the back porch.

"That's how it all got started … kind of by accident," says Murphy, 36. "By the end of the week, we had seven homeless guys sleeping out on her porch. We were just supplying them with the basic needs — food, clothing and a place to lay their head."
Out of those humble beginnings, a ministry was born. Servant of Jesus Church and Shelter offers a second chance to men, women and children who are looking for a way to survive by getting off the streets and back on their feet.
"The homeless are really our brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers. They are our children," Murphy says. "All they want are their lives back, and maybe a little respect along the way."

Tim Skinner met Murphy a few years ago while trying to find a suitable shelter for an estranged relative battling drug addiction. Everywhere he looked, Skinner found only dead ends. That was until he heard about Servant of Jesus Church.
"Seth will take the people no one else will," Skinner says. "He's just got a heart and a passion for helping people."Those include "several" veterans, the mentally ill, those battling drug addiction, the unemployed and several who are waiting on disability claims from the state.

In 2004, Murphy and his wife, Leigh, with the help of donations from friends, family and private entities as well as assistance from the Salvation Army, Center of Hope and Word Alive, moved the growing ministry into two buildings along McCoy Avenue in Blue Mountain — one for men, another for women and children. The ministry also has a third building along the same street that serves as a church, where everyone gathers for meals and weekly worship services."We've pretty much taken over the whole street," Murphy says with a slight laugh. "I'd like to see its name changed from McCoy Avenue to Jesus Way."
But times are tough and getting tougher.Relying heavily on donations from "regular working folks" who, because of the recent economic shift are finding it harder to give, maintaining Servant of Jesus has grown increasingly difficult. Those who live in the shelters are having trouble finding work, thus they can't give back. Meanwhile, the bills are piling up, and sometimes it's a struggle just keeping the electricity on. "But we're still here, doing whatever it takes," Murphy says.

Providing shelter for the homeless isn't Murphy's lone battle. He also has kidney problems and is on dialysis three times a week. During one of his visits to Dr. V.M. Reddy, who practices internal medicine at the Anniston Wellness Center, Murphy started talking about the shelter and its many needs. Reddy, who is from India, was intrigued. "This is our community now," Reddy says. "(The homeless) are part of our familym and I wanted to help any way that I can."

After viewing a video Murphy compiled about his ministry, Reddy made a donation that was instrumental in helping Murphy open one of the buildings he rents on McCoy. Several of Murphy's residents have since become patients of Reddy's."Seth's doing the best he can," Reddy says. "The community needs to also step forward. Seth's doing the hard work. It's easy to give money, but to actually go out and help these people … that's impressive, and should be rewarded."