Homelessness increased in Phila., decreased nationally in 2007

The U.S. homeless population dropped last year, but the nation's secretary of housing and urban development cautioned yesterday that cities continued to have a long way to go.

In a speech before a National Alliance to End Homelessness conference in Washington, HUD Secretary Steve Preston said the nation was making progress in reducing homelessness, especially among people living on streets or cycling in and out of shelters for long periods.

The ranks of these hardest-to-reach individuals have decreased by 15 percent a year for the last two years, according to HUD's annual report to Congress on homelessness, which was released yesterday.

The overall number of people in shelters, meanwhile, was down by 6 percent last year, HUD reported to Congress.

Contrary to the national trend, Philadelphia's numbers were up in 2007, with more people in shelters and living on streets, according to HUD data.

Sister Mary Scullion, codirector of Project HOME, a nonprofit provider of housing for the homeless in Philadelphia, said HUD funding to the city had been cut during those years.

Sister Mary, who was attending the National Alliance's conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, said the situation this year was expected to improve.

"It already has," Sister Mary said. The latest spring census of people living on streets in Center City showed a reduction from the year before, she said.

She said Mayor Nutter's recently announced plan to add 700 units of permanent housing would likely reduce the number of homeless individuals and families in Philadelphia.

Preston said HUD was beginning to gather a more complete picture on homelessness in the United States as cities and counties adopted better methods of collecting data.

"We can be encouraged by the data," Preston said. "We are making progress."

But, he added, "I don't want to overclaim our collective success."

Preston said communities "need to be watchful about the impact of our housing crisis on homelessness."

According to the HUD report to Congress, 1.6 million people across the country experienced homelessness over the course of 2007.

In a snapshot of homelessness from January 2007, HUD found that at that time, there were 123,833 people who were chronically homeless. That compares with 155,623 in 2006 and 175,914 in 2005.

Dennis Culhane, a University of Pennsylvania expert on homelessness who helped compile the report to Congress, said part of the reduction was due to the fact that cities were better at counting the homeless.

"But we also know some successes are occurring," Culhane said. He said HUD had made a commitment to fund permanent housing for the chronically homeless. In the last four years, HUD has helped cities to build 40,000 units of housing to move people off streets and out of shelters, Culhane said.

In its report to Congress, HUD also estimated that 154,000 veterans were homeless. This year, HUD and the Department of Veterans Affairs will spend $75 million to reach out to 10,000 homeless veterans. Preston said President Bush was seeking to double that next year.

"Our service to people who are homeless is a measure of our nation's compassion," Preston said. "Many people want a tidy world and, for them, the homeless present an uncomfortable reality."