Homelessness Statistics 2012

Homelessness in the United States

To be considered homeless, a person must meet the federal definition of homelessness set forth in the McKinney Act of 1987. According to federal law, a person is homeless if they:

• 1. Lack a regular, fixed, and adequate nighttime residence (or)
• 2. Live in a shelter or transitional housing residence for homeless persons (or)
• 3. Live in a temporary residence for persons waiting for institutionalization (or)
• 4. Are sleeping in a place not intended for human beings (or)
• 5. Will be evicted within one week from their home (or)
• 6. Will be discharged within one week from institutions where they have lived for more than 30 days in a row and they have not found a place to live and they have no money or other resources to find a place to live.

Persons in jail are NOT considered homeless while in jail. Persons living in housing with relatives or friends are NOT considered homeless.

According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's 2008 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, the most common demographic features of all sheltered homeless people are: male, members of minority groups, older than age 31, and alone. More than two-fifths of sheltered homeless people have a disability. At the same time, sizable segments of the sheltered homeless population are white, non-Hispanic (38 percent), children (20 percent), or part of multi-person households (33 percent). Approximately 68 percent of the 1.6 million sheltered homeless people were homeless as individuals and 32 percent were persons in families, around 512,000 people.[HUD, 2008]