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Utah's homeless population is increasing.
The Deseret News reports, by December nearly 16,000 Utahns will have been homeless at some point during this year. In one year the number of homeless families climbed from 37-percent to 43-percent.
According to State Housing and Community Development, on any given night, about 3,000 Utahns are homeless.
Overall the homeless numbers are rising. According to a 2008 Emergency Shelter Census published in the Deseret News this morning, 15,850 people in Utah are predicted to be homeless at some point in 2008.
Compared to 2007 the increase of homeless families went up 28 percent. Overall, Utah's homeless population has increased by 16 percent this year.
When it comes to public schools, that type of homelessness is viewed differently. Utah's annual count does not include the nearly 7,500 homeless school children, many whom couch surf with their families or live doubled-up in substandard dwellings.
This count also excludes homeless people in jail and in the hospital. That means the count really could be even higher than estimated.
In May we reported that Utah's chronically homeless population was decreasing, mostly due to the state adopting a new strategy to get homeless people off the streets.
The state credited a new strategy for providing more affordable housing. Sunrise Metro is one of two complexes opened to help that effort. There are also plans to build a third housing complex by 2009.
Homeless war veterans in Salt Lake received a boost from the federal government late this spring. The Department of Housing and Urban Development gave nearly a quarter-million dollars to the Salt Lake City Housing Authority. That money put 35 homeless vets into their own apartments. There is also the Valor House, a wing at the George E. Wahlen V.A. Medical Center that gives a home and counseling to 60 vets.
So why the increase in numbers? There are several reasons: lost jobs, medical bills, the overall economy. There is a promise of more space being available in the fall for low income families. Also scheduled to open this fall is the 200-unit Palmer Court. That development is expected to bring the state one step closer to reducing the homeless numbers.
E-mail: spark@ksl.com