Sacramento Head Start Alumni Association

Hunger and Homelessness a twenty-five-city survey

Dec 25, 2002

Mayors Survey Shows Increased Demand for Food Aid and
Housing

According to a twenty-five-city survey from the U.S.
Conference of Mayors ( http://www.usmayors.org/ ), requests
for food aid in 2002 increased an average of 19 percent,
while demand for emergency shelter during the year grew an
average of 19 percent in the eighteen cities that showed
increases -- the biggest jump in a decade.

The mayors attributed hunger in their cities to high
housing costs, low-paying jobs, unemployment, and the
economic downturn, with more than half saying they were
unable to provide an adequate amount of food to the needy
and almost two-thirds reporting that they had to decrease
the amount of food provided in 2002 and ration food
assistance. On the issue of homelessness, the mayors blamed
a lack of affordable housing, mental illness, substance
abuse, and low-paying jobs. The survey found that people
remained homeless for an average of six months and that
families with children accounted for 39 percent of the
homeless population, with more than 70 percent of those
families led by single parents.

Demand for emergency shelter and food assistance has risen
steadily since the conference began the survey in 1986, and
all the mayors this year said they expect requests for food
aid to increase again in 2003. The group called on the Bush
administration to boost its support for food assistance and
housing programs and asked the president and Congress to
enact a national housing agenda that would significantly
increase the amount of low-cost housing. With many families
priced out of the housing market, the demand for public
housing has exploded, and several experts say that the
inability of many poor families to pay both rent and
grocery bills drives up demand for food aid. The Department
of Housing and Urban Development is expected to provide
$1.12 billion to help the homeless in 2003, up $28 million
from this year. Two-thirds of the funding will go to
homeless shelters and related social service and prevention
programs.

"The world's richest and most powerful nation must find a
way to meet the basic needs of all its residents," said
Boston mayor and conference president Thomas M. Menino. "To
address hunger and homelessness we must all work together
to confront our national affordable housing crisis and turn
around our sluggish economy."

The report based on the survey, A Status Report on Hunger
and Homelessness in America's Cities 2002 (141 pages, PDF),
is available at:

http://www.usmayors.org/USCM/hungersurvey/2002/onlinereport/HungerAndHomeles
sReport2002.pdf.