How large is the homeless population in the USA?

[LoZoccolo]

[Enrique]

1. homelessness is no joke n/t

[greytdemocrat]

2. Odd question. N/T

[A HERETIC I AM]

3. No it isn't. To read some DU'rs, you would think it was 60%.

Over inflating statistics and outright hyperbole are favorite sports on this board.

[greytdemocrat]

8. No one here is that willfully stupid. n/t

[A HERETIC I AM]

11. LOL!!!

Wanna bet?

Fine, I haven't seen anyone suggest the homeless rate is 60%, but willfully stupid?

You bet your ass.

Some on this board were CONVINCED that a small impact probe shot into the polar region of the moon would throw off the menstrual cycles of women and that there were corporations ready and willing to bring the water found there back here to sell it.

Oh yes...we have some real interesting types on DU.

[obliviously]

15. That's ridiculous

Everyone knows you target the equatorial region.

[A HERETIC I AM]

17. lol....yup.

[greytdemocrat]

19. Ok...

I do vaguely remember that. I stand corrected.

[Lenomsky]

21. Some on this board were CONVINCED that a small impact probe shot into the polar region of the moon

would throw off the menstrual cycles of women ..

jesus mate ice-cram does that lol get a grip ;)

[Electric Monk]

27. I chalk those up to Poe's Law

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law

Poe's law states:
“Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of fundamentalism that someone won't mistake for the real thing.”

The core of Poe's law is that a parody of something is by nature extreme. That makes it impossible to differentiate from sincere extremism.

A corollary of Poe's law is the reverse phenomenon: legitimate fundamentalist beliefs being mistaken for a parody of that belief.

A further corollary, the Poe Paradox, results from suspicion of the first corollary. The paradox is that any new person or idea sufficiently extreme to be accepted by the extremist group risks being rejected as a parody or parodist.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

29. you forgot to work Bill Gates and farm land speculation in urban Detroit into that conspircy,

Otherwise it is spot on,

[Lenomsky]

20. Wrong ..

I think you'll find that's not the case.

Look at the stats so far .. who do you work for?

[A HERETIC I AM]

22. You used one of your incredibly rare posts to respond to MOI?!?

I'm flattered!

Read the ensuing posts. I admitted that no one has actually said 60%, but the point I am making is there are people on this board who just LOVE to exaggerate for any number of reasons, one of which, I am convinced, is because it somehow makes them feel better to make things sound worse than they are.

Oh, and who I work for is absolutely none of your damned business, but I've made no secret about what I do for a living;

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=1104336

[trumad]

34. Possibly one of the funniest posts I've ever read on DU...

You say--- :"I admitted that no one has actually said 60%",

Then you say: "people on this board who just LOVE to exaggerate"

Well isn't the 60% figure you spouted----er, exaggeration?

[A HERETIC I AM]

36. Yup....sure is.

And I used to the same effect, no

Edited to add another example;

During the Gulf oil spill, it was reported that a few tar balls were found on a Key West beach (something that had been happening for DECADES, if not centuries) and one DU'er said that all the Keys and their reefs were now "ruined".

THAT'S the kind of exaggeration and nonsense I'm talking about.

BTW, in my post #3 above, I said "If you read some DU'ers, you would think it was 60%"

I never said it was 60%.

[tekisui]

4. It depends on how you define it. People without shelter, people

living in emergency shelters or transition housing, people living with relatives (doubling up), people living in other institutions including prisons.

It adds up.

[MannyGoldstein]

5. What's your point? nt

[marmar]

9. It's a how-to-waste-bandwidth demo.

nt

[MannyGoldstein]

10. Perhaps the point is that under 25% is OK?

This is a very confusing poll.

[QC]

13. It's a call out of the author of another thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1368286&mesg_id=1368286

[MannyGoldstein]

14. Wow. Thanks. nt

[AlabamaLibrul]

32. It's Okay If...

[Electric Monk]

43. they're a blatant hypocrite?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1378427#1378462

[obliviously]

6. I haven't heard a word

about homelessness on the news since 2008.

[JonLP24]

7. Less than 25%

I've read that it is difficult to get an accurate number for homeless but estimates put the number at 1% but varies by region.

[leeroysphitz]

12. .

[Penguin31]

16. Too large, whatever the actual number (nt)

[dsc]

18. So in a wealthy country that hasn't been the scene of a war in over 100 years

we are proud of the fact that under 1 in 4 people are homeless? Really? I mean, it would be one thing if we were post war Germany, or Iraq but we are a country that has the largest economy in the entire world and we are thrilled that we don't have quite 1 in 4 people literally homeless. Gee, talk about damning with faint praise.

[obliviously]

23. If there were only some way

we could sound like we were more compassionate! I mean wouldn't that be great?

[Rageneau]

24. Before Reagan, it was effectively zero.

I never recall seeing homeless people until Ronnie Ray-gun became POTUS and started closing mental hospitals and cutting back on welfare benefits.

Today, these unfortunates are ubiquitous; every city has them. But I remember that it took some getting used to when they first began to appear -- which was about 1982.

[obliviously]

25. that was Jimmy carter

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=32339#axzz1QRsmINDr

[JonLP24]

31. I don't think what you posted

is what the poster is talking about. From that it sounds like a responsible change in policy when it comes to treatment of mental illness. Especially this part. "Those with chronic mental illness were too often locked away in isolated institutions far from family and friends." Rosalyn Carter is a tireless advocate for mental health that continues to this day. I have an unlimited supply of admiration for her.

I think what the poster was referring to was this.

Then came Ronald Reagan. Within a month, the Office of Management Budget announced it would curtail the budget of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), phase out training of clinicians, interrupt research, and eliminate services. Cutbacks to staff followed; chaos ensued. Experienced people left, others remained in government service but were forced into menial jobs. Trained professionals were reassigned to labs to dissect dead rats; science writers were reassigned to typing pools. The Mental Health Systems Act would be disappear. Instead, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (1982) would merge money for mental health programs into block grants, and with fewer dollars going to the states. They had the discretion to use them however they saw fit, often to perpetuate programs already deemed problematic. The pretense for all this was the president's concept of a "new federalism."

"Many of our dreams were gone," wrote Rosalynn Carter in Helping Someone with Mental Illness. "It was a bitter loss."

http://www.miwatch.org/2011/02/_ronald_reagan_and_mental.html

[Electric Monk]

26. It REALLY depends on how you define homeless, which you failed to do.

Does it mean sleeping in your car?

What about couch surfing?

Motels?

Moved back in with your parents?

Or does it have to be living in a park or under a bridge?

[trackfan]

28. It is way too high. It is nowhere near 25%.

which would be about 77,000,000. But you probably knew that.

[devilgrrl]

30. Larger than it should be.

:patriot:

[woo me with science]

42. Good answer.

:)

[quaker bill]

33. Too large

It depends how one defines it. Those actually living on the street is probably well less than 25% but still too large. Those under severe stress and food insecurity and scraping to survive on limited assistance, that number could be quite high.

[ThomWV]

35. All renters are Homeless, all they have is a box they live in - if they can pay month to month.

[w8liftinglady]

38. thank you. I am a renter, and was almost kicked out when I got sick

anyone can become homeless.

[w8liftinglady]

37. it is difficult to measure...especially homeless families.

my partner had several students last year who had more than 4 addresses during one school year.
The kids simply moved from one garage to the next.
The are kicked out of one fleabag hotel and move to the next.
They live in a neighbor's living room for a few weeks...
More than you will ever realize.

[ileus]

39. If you count children, old people in nursing homes, and renters

I suppose it's greater than 25%

[leeroysphitz]

40. Why would you count renters?

And how am I going to explain to my wife and kids that we've been homeless for the last ten years?

Also, if we count people who haven't paid off their houses yet I bet we could get that percentage up to 60 or 70.

[WatsonT]

41. Also if you count people who are not at this exact moment in their homes

you could get the number even higher.

[ileus]

44. see and even better point....maybe 85% of us are homeless.

closer to 95 if you still have to pay property tax on your home...