Homelessness Affects the Youngest Children

I learned some startling and distressing statistics about young children and homelessness today in an infographic put together by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Education.  In their Interagency Policy Statement on Childhood Homelessness they issue a call to action to make a difference in the lives of young children and families.  

 I just read Evicted:  Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond, and it was a moving, disturbing, upsetting look at the way people living in poverty, often spending more than 70 percent of their income on housing, are trapped in difficult circumstances due to a lack of stable housing.  These new statistics (see infographic below) make the whole situation even more dire.  

 Where do libraries stand in all of this?  Many libraries are providing a safe and warm place for families to spend time during the day, others have created deposit collections at shelters, still others, like the library in Eau Claire, have selected books like Evicted as their newest One Community, One Book title--bringing the discussion to a wider audience.

1 Gubits, D., Shinn M., Bell S., Wood M., Dstrup S., Solari, C…Abt Associates, Inc.. (2015, July). Family options study: Short-term impacts of housing and services interventions for homeless families. Washington, D.C.: Prepared for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research by Abt. Associates and Vanderbilt University. Retrieved from https://www.huduser.gov/portal/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/FamilyOptionsStudy_final.pdf

2 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Community Planning and Development. (2016, October). The 2015 annual homeless assessment report (AHAR) to Congress: Part 2: Estimates of homelessness in the United States. Washington, DC: Solari, C., Morris, S., Shivji, A., & de Souza, T. Retrieved from https://www.hudexchange.info/resource/5162/2015-ahar-part-2-estimates-of-homelessness/
3 Center for Housing Policy and Children’s Health Watch. (2015, June). Compounding stress: The timing and duration effects of homelessness on children’s health. Sandel, M., Sheward, R., & Sturtevant, L. Retrieved from http://www.childrenshealthwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/Compounding-Stress_2015.pdf
4 Richards, R., Merrill, R. M., Baksh, L., & McGarry, J. (2011). Maternal health behaviors and infant health outcomes among homeless mothers: US Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) 2000–2007. Preventive Medicine, 52(1), 87-94.
5 Stein, J. A., Lu, M. C., & Gelberg, L. (2000). Severity of homelessness and adverse birth outcomes. Health Psychology, 19(6), 524.   Richards, R., Merrill, R. M., Baksh, L., & McGarry, J. (2011). Maternal health behaviors and infant health outcomes among homeless mothers: US Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) 2000–2007. Preventive Medicine, 52(1), 87-94.

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