WASHINGTON — The number of chronically homeless people declined by 15 percent last year, according to a first-of-its-kind government report released Tuesday. Officials warned, however, that part of the decline might be attributed to better counting methods than those used previously.
Nationwide, about 1.6 million people were homeless and found shelter last year, the report found.
“We’ve very encouraged by this,” said Steve Preston, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, whose department released the report. “We want to present the facts as we see them, and the facts are really good. … We are making progress.”
The report represents the first time that homelessness has been tracked over the course of an entire year. Prior estimates, starting in 2005, were snapshots that provided a count of the homeless population on a particular night.
HUD defines a chronically homeless person as a disabled individual who has been continuously homeless for at least a year or has been homeless at least four times in the previous three years.
The report found that of the nearly 1.6 million homeless who found shelter, either in emergency housing or in transitional living programs, 77 percent are in “central cities” and the rest in suburban and rural areas.
Families with children (typically a mother with two or three children) comprise 30 percent of this population; minorities make up 64 percent; and 13 percent are veterans.
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