Information About Homeless Shelters
Homeless shelters provide temporary accommodation to individuals and families without permanent residences. Nonprofit organizations generally manage shelters and receive a proportion of funding from local government. Shelters often provide health care facilities, food, retraining and employment help in addition to accommodation.
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Provision
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The National Coalition for the Homeless states that there are not sufficient homeless shelters to fulfill the need in America. They suggest many shelters are filled to capacity and there are few, if any, shelters in rural areas.
Research
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According to the 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, published by the U.S. Department of Housing, during a one year period in 2008-2009, almost 1.56 million homeless people were recorded as using a shelter or transitional accommodation.
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Clients
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The typical profile of a shelter user detailed in the 2009 report was an adult male, from an ethnic minority group, who was middle-age and alone. More than 40 percent of shelter users have a disability and over 10 percent are veterans.
Volunteering
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There are numerous opportunities to help homeless shelters as volunteers are often needed to assist with a range of duties; local shelters can be contacted for details.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit homeless man image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com
