There are more than 45,000 homeless children in New York state and the number is likely to increase because of the deepening economic recession, according to a new study from the National Center on Family Homelessness released Tuesday.
At the same time, the state has only about 15,000 emergency shelter units available for homeless families. New York ranked 22nd out of 50 states in the number of homeless children.
An estimated 1.5 million children were homeless across the United States in 2008. This was the first time such a snapshot was taken since a 1999 report by the same group. The study found that 1 in 32 children in New York do not know where they will get their next meal. Health problems were much more pronounced for homeless children, compared to middle-income children in the state, particularly asthma, traumatic stress and emotional disturbance.
The racial breakdown for homeless children in the state was white (36 percent), Hispanic (31 percent), black (27 percent), Asian (6 percent) and Native American (0 percent).In addition, the report found that less than 25 percent of homeless children graduate from high school in New York.
"The numbers are growing exponentially higher," said David Rossetti, executive director of St. Paul's Center in Rensselaer, a homeless shelter for single mothers with children. The 19-bed facility is currently full and, as soon as a room becomes available, it is immediately filled.
Rossetti said the mortgage crisis has caused landlords into foreclosure on their rental properties, plunging more families with children into homelessness.
"These are often two-income working families, making minimum wage and living paycheck to paycheck," Rossetti said. "When the apartment gets foreclosed on, they're evicted and can't find another apartment they can afford."
And, if this story weren't bad enough, consider this. Across the nation, nearly 1 in every 7 houses or apartments are currently empty. No, really.
