Editorial: Not all news on homeless is good

Local governments and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development have a smiley-face message to impart: Chronic homelessness is dropping!

According to a recent survey in Sacramento County, the number of people who are deemed chronically homeless – those who have been on the streets for more than a year – has dropped 5 percent since 2007, from 718 to 680.

Federal officials claim that, nationwide, chronic homelessness has dropped 15 percent since 2005, with 32,000 fewer people on the streets in 2007 than a year earlier.

HUD cites this as evidence that its effort to redirect money from shelters to long-term housing is working. "There's a shift taking place in this country away from using shelters as a response to homelessness," said Brian Sullivan, a HUD spokesman.

But taxpayers and people who care about homelessness should take a deeper look at these numbers, both locally and nationwide. If they do, they'll find little to celebrate. According to the county's own survey, between 2007 and 2008, there's been:

• A 78 percent increase in homeless kids under age 18.

• A 35 percent increase in homeless people who are severely mentally ill.

• A 35 percent increase in homeless people who are veterans.

• A 22 percent increase in homeless people who have AIDS.

Overall, there has been a 15 percent increase in Sacramento County's "non-chronic" homeless population in the last year. This includes families who have become homeless because of the economic downturn.

These numbers should prompt local elected leaders to rethink their unqualified support for HUD's policy of refocusing money and manpower on the chronically homeless.

Make no mistake: It is valiant and commendable that business leaders and community organizers have come together to try to end this toughest of problems. The chronically homeless include people who have been on the streets for years, with serious substance abuse problems. Providing some stability could encourage some to seek medical treatment and reduce costs to society at large.

But this effort should not come at the expense of helping families and kids who have recently become homeless. Hundreds fall into this category. Their numbers have increased in the last year.

Consider the situation at St. John's Shelter for Women and Children in Sacramento.

This 100-bed shelter tries to help families get off the street and back to self-sufficiency in 90 days. Last year at this time, the shelter was turning away about 25 women and children daily because of overcrowding. Now it is turning away 80 a day, with no increase in government support, according to executive director Michele Steeb.

Where are this community's priorities? At a minimum, they should include families and kids who could end up in the foster care system or homeless camps without quick intervention. They should include veterans and others who don't meet the definition of chronically ill.

Lastly, this community's priorities should not be determined by the policies of HUD, whose single-minded focus on the chronically homeless is glossing over the enormity of a larger national problem.