More than 15,400 Pennsylvanians experienced homelessness this year. That's up slightly from 2014 - and up 6.2 percent from 2010, despite supportive housing and emergency shelter space increasing 2.5 percent statewide. Meanwhile, nationwide homelessness counts dropped as housing and shelter accommodations rose less than one percent, according to HUD data.
(Although housing's increased a bit, rent remains expensive for many. Poverty, domestic violence or a combination of those and other factors also contribute, as Project HOME explains).
Those are some of the findings in the latest data on homelessness in the United States and an accompanying 80-page report released Thursday. The federal Department of Housing & Urban Development puts out the information every fall based on the annual Point-in-Time survey conducted simultaneously nationwide.
Read the full version of this report at Keystone Crossroads' website. Keystone Crossroads is a new statewide public media initiative reporting on the challenges facing Pennsylvania's cities. WPSU is a participating station.
