The Worcester Telegram & Gazette has covered the rise in family homelessness, illustrated by Worcester’s point-in-time count in its story Homelessness on Rise.
While Worcester advocates point to the recent focus on addressing chronic homelessness as a factor, the article says that US Interagency Council on Homelessness director Phillip Mangano cites the double wallop of snowballing housing foreclosures and recessionary unemployment, which have overwhelmed efforts to assist families, but which do not have the same impacts on chronically homeless individuals, who are unconnected to homes or jobs. The article also quotes Robert I. Pulster, executive director of the Massachusetts Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness: “On the family side, there are resources, but I don’t think they have been as targeted as they have been on the individual side. There’s certainly a lot of movement now to replicate what we’ve seen on the individual side” for families.
