In Michigan, on any one night, there are approximately 24,713 sheltered homeless individuals, with an additional 41,338 unsheltered, a total of 66,051.  These statistics include 34,622 adults and children in homeless families.

Why people are homeless

The root cause of homeless is prolonged poverty. In 1997, 13.3% of the U.S. population, or 35.6 million people, lived in poverty (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1998). While the number of poor people remains has not changed much in recent years, the number of people living in extreme poverty has increased. In 1997, 14.6 million people -- 41% of all poor persons -- had incomes of less than half the poverty level. This represents an increase of over 500,000 from 1995. Forty percent of persons living in poverty are children; in fact, the 1997 poverty rate of 19.9% for children is almost twice as high as the poverty rate for any other age group.  

• Homelessness is usually the result of a complex set of personal and structural circumstances that push people into poverty and force impossible choices between food, shelter, medical expenses, and other basic needs.

• Often it is housing (which absorbs a high proportion of income) that must be dropped.

• Being poor means being an illness, an accident, or a paycheck away from living on the streets.

Other Important Contributors to Homelessness