The city identified 721 homeless veterans when it took its annual count in January. That included 465 vets living in homeless shelters and another 256 living unsheltered on the streets. That’s out of a total identified homeless population of 6,294.
By that measure, though, Wade and his family would never have been regarded as homeless, just one small example of why homeless advocates say such official counts identify only a fraction of the homeless problem.
Many homeless people are hidden from view like Wade, bunking with family members or friends–until their options run out.
That’s why you could scoop up every homeless veteran in the city tonight, give them a place to live and still not eliminate veteran homelessness. We remain a society that produces newly homeless people every bit as fast as we can help the old ones.
Even as Emanuel was calling attention to the additional federal resources for veteran homelessness, homeless advocates were making plans for a new media campaign to call attention to a devastating $3.3 million in federal cuts for support services for all homeless people.