What is Homelessness?

Homelessness has been a social issue for decades. According to the Council of Economic Advisors, over half a million Americans go homeless every single night in the United States. About 35 percent of them are sleeping on the streets or other public places such as parks or stations. Meanwhile, over 350,000 sheltered homeless people are found in emergency shelters and transitional housing programs [1].

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Washington, D.C. is one of the cities that has rates of sheltered homelessness at least 2.7 times as high as the rate in every other city [1]. While the number of homeless families has steadily declined in recent years, however, the number of single homeless people has increased by 12% since 2015 [2].