Numbers and Statistics

According to various sources polled almost half of Denver's homeless population are women and children. According to the DU.EDU website there are about four thousand homeless in the Denver area. Of that four thousand some 60% are families, and 29% are women. That's 2,400 people (including children) in families, and over 1,100 women. Now, call me old fashioned or what ever you like, but to me the fact that we have so many youth and women on the streets is a massive strike against our society. There's no real excuse for it, there's several relatively easy solutions to the problem- and no I don't mean Carlin or Swift's methods- so why does it keep happening?

There's no real answer for that particular question. Some sources point out substance abuse and insanity as reasons for homelessness. There is, of course, some truth to that. Quite a bit in fact and the proof in the numbers are out there for anyone that wants to look. Of course, the reverse is also true. Being homeless in the richest country in the world is a state of being that has no doubt driven many people to insanity or into the arms of chemicals that seduce people with the promise of forgetfulness, even if just for a moment. That's no excuse; of course, it is a problem that compounds the situation. However, only 27.5% of the homeless population polled admitted to substance abuse, and only 21.5% claimed to have some form of mental health issue. 4.5% polled admitted to having some sort of developmental issue that impeded them, and 18.5% claimed that a debilitating medical problem contributed to their situation.

So, less than half the population- around 2,000 people- is insane or substance abusers and 23% are physically or developmentally challenged. Combining the numbers only accounts for 72% of the total homeless population of the Denver area which leaves over one quarter of the homeless in Denver with no physical, mental, or emotional causes for homelessness. The most likely problem facing that 28% is financial complications. Approximately 1,100 men, women, and children are homeless because they can't afford a place to live. Of the homeless polled in the Denver area some 28% cited job loss as the trigger that caused them to become homeless, 23% cited housing costs, and 20% cited a family break-up as why they were homeless.

In many cultures around the world family members can, and will be, called on to aid the homeless or destitute. However, in the United States of America the trend seems to be to ignore them, calling them lazy bums and the like. Sadly, statistics show that 40% of the people polled in regards to homelessness are actually working. Of course since the Fair Market Value of a three bedroom apartment in the Denver area requires a wage- around $18.00/hr- that is 300 times higher than what the median wage is in Denver, it's no surprise that even the employed section of the homeless in Denver can't afford a place to live that matches their needs.

Further claims made are that the homeless are minorities or immigrants that can't gain access to higher wages or income due to educational or legal issues. This as well is somewhat false, as the numbers show. Of the homeless who were polled 54.9% were white, 14.8% were black, 25% were hispanic, 6% were indian, and 7.7% claimed some mixture of race or culture. The national demographics break down differently, showing that while the claims are partially valid when percentages are derived from the statistics there is still a large population that can't claim to have legal or educational issues holding them back. Once again, the problem seems to come back to mainly financial issues.

Of course, the financial issues cut both ways. According to various sources it costs between 40.5K and almost 55K per year to support a single homeless person. Note that this number does not include treatment or medical attention. This dollar amount includes only feeding, clothing, and sheltering a single body. This means that for Denver alone we're spending between $162,000,000 and $220,000,000 per year to support the homeless population. To me, that's an absurd number, but I'll leave it to each of you to draw your own conclusions.

As I previously stated, there's no easy solution to the problem of homelessness. Social, mental, and physical rehabilitation is one leg of the solution. Education is another. Financial independence is the third leg of the solution. Sadly there are no end of complications that impede our society's attempts to fix the problem. Social, physical, and mental reconditioning and rehabilitation is very expensive and time consuming, and the homeless spend a huge preponderance of their available time struggling to merely survive, not get better. Education is prohibitively expensive across the board, with college tuition and book cost rising steadily toward a point that even financially stable members of society can't afford a real education without government assistance.

Lastly, we come to financial independence. The gap between income levels and cost of living are constantly rising. Between the current depression and the ridiculous costs of most goods, the purchasing power of the US dollar is extremely low. $436.35 in the year 2008 has the same purchasing power as $100.00 in the year 1974. As you can see, there is a $336.45 decrease in purchasing power over 35 years which should be a problem to anyone. Conversely, in 1974 minimum wage was $2.00/ hr and in 2008 it was $6.55/hr. Using the same calculator I used to determine the difference in purchasing power, we find that the difference between $2.00 in 1974 and now is $6.73, and the difference between $6.55 in 1974 and now is $28.59. I'm sure my readers can work out the gap on their own, so I won't belabor the point further.

1.) Homelessness is not limited to one specific demographic set.

2.) Even people who are employed can easily become homeless.

3.) The available solutions to the problem cannot be applied across the board due to financial restrictions.

4.) As the gap between income and cost of living continues to rise more and more people will become homeless.

Those four points should lead any reasonable person to conclude that homelessness is a massive problem in the US, and one that the vast majority of people living in the US are closer to than most of us want to admit.