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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The number of homeless children in the U.S. has surged in recent years to an all-time high.
A comprehensive state-by-state report by the National Center on Family Homelessness says one child in every 30 is homeless. It blames the problem on the lack of affordable housing and the impacts of pervasive domestic violence.
The new report calculates that nearly 2.5 million children in America were homeless at some point last year.
The number is based on the Department of Education's latest count of 1.3 million homeless children in public schools, supplemented by estimates of homeless pre-school children not counted by the DOE.
The problem is especially severe in California, which has one-eighth of the U.S. population, but accounts for more than one-fifth of the homeless children — that's nearly 527,000 homeless kids.
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245-a-13-(Carmela DeCandia (dee-KAN'-dee-uh), director, National Center on Family Homelessness, co-author of the report, in AP interview)-"reached epidemic proportions"-Study co-author Carmela DeCandia says the number of homeless children in the U.S. has surged in recent years. (16 Nov 2014)
<<CUT *245 (11/16/14)££ 00:13 "reached epidemic proportions"
247-a-10-(Carmela DeCandia (dee-KAN'-dee-uh), director, National Center on Family Homelessness, co-author of the report, in AP interview)-"out of reach"-Study co-author Carmela DeCandia says what's needed is the political will to act to provide support to the children and their parents. (16 Nov 2014)
<<CUT *247 (11/16/14)££ 00:10 "out of reach"
246-a-08-(Carmela DeCandia (dee-KAN'-dee-uh), director, National Center on Family Homelessness, co-author of the report, in AP interview)-"very unstable lives"-Study co-author Carmela DeCandia says many of the nation's homeless children are very young. (16 Nov 2014)
<<CUT *246 (11/16/14)££ 00:08 "very unstable lives"
243-w-36-(Diane Kepley, AP correspondent, with Carmela DeCandia, director, National Center on Family Homelessness)--The number of homeless children in America has surged to nearly 2.5 million in recent years. AP correspondent Diane Kepley reports. (16 Nov 2014)
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244-a-15-(Carmela DeCandia (dee-KAN'-dee-uh), director, National Center on Family Homelessness, co-author of the report, in AP interview)-"children and families"-Study co-author Carmela DeCandia is calling for the federal government to put the same resources into helping homeless children as it does veterans and chronically homeless adults. ((longer version of cut in wrap)) (16 Nov 2014)
<<CUT *244 (11/16/14)££ 00:15 "children and families"
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