Hunger and Homelessness Report

No One Really Gives This Report Much Confidence

The United States Conference of Mayors report on Hunger and Homelessness in America was released on Friday. While this report was for years, largely dismissed by advocates and by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development as pure conjecture. This is a survey of the Mayor's offices from 25 cities in America of statistics such as meals and shelter capacity etc. Even the activists in the 25 cities have never considered the information reliable. The reality was that using the Mayor's report based on the percentage increase every year would mean there were approximately 25 million homeless people in America. Anyway, it is a December tradition to get the Hunger and Homeless report, which always shows an increase in homelessness. For 20 years, this report has stated publicly that American Mayors are struggling with increases in homelessness. This has not made a damn bit of difference. During the Clinton, Bush 43, and Bush 41 administrations, this report meant nothing. Obviously, the Mayors do not carry much weight, especially if the report is so widely discredited by government and advocates alike.

I always thought that the full report was a failure, but the Cleveland numbers were usually pretty accurate. I knew the person collecting the numbers and I knew that he was relying on accurate information, so it was a good baseline for trends in Cleveland. This year, the numbers are based on the "complete count" mandated by HUD for every city. This is the once a year attempt to count everyone who is homeless in every city in America on one day. Basically, a bunch of volunteers try to count thousands of similarly colored marbles while they are in motion. The complete count is the most useless exercise ever mandated by government. This is now the basis for the Mayor's homeless report including Cleveland's listing. The hunger report is fine, because it is based on something real: meals delivered or consumed. We can all agree that homelessness has increased in nearly every City in America (including Cleveland), but the numbers in the report are useless.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.