FACTS & STATISTICS
The fastest growing segment of those who become homeless are families. Currently 40% of the homeless population are members of families. During 2001, family homelessness increased 33% within the city of Chicago. There are multiple causes of this dramatic increase including, lack of affordable housing, scarcity of living wage jobs, lack of adequate child care, domestic violence, lack of adequate health care and support services to people living with mental illness and addiction.
Typical homeless parent:
- young mother with two or more children
- experienced or witnessed domestic violence at some point in her life
- has at least one child suffering from a chronic health problem
- is unemployed due to a lack of adequate child care, lack of work skills, or the inability to find job that pays a living wage
- left her last residence because of a family dispute
- is likely to be under the age of 25
- experiences a higher rate of depressive disorder than the overall female population
Children:
- a child needs four to six weeks to recover academically from a change in school
- symptoms of anxiety and depression occur in 47% of homeless children
Economic Factors:
- the majority of parents who are homeless lived in poverty as children: more than half (53%) grew up in families that received some type of public assistance. Conversely, almost half of parents who are homeless did not grow up on public aid, but in working families
- Fifty seven percent of parents resided in unstable or tenuous living situations before their eighteenth birthday.
- Forty-eight percent spent time in public housing and/or doubled-up living arrangements o children who are homeless are much more likely to suffer from respiratory ailments than children generally. Fifty-four percent of homeless children suffer from some chronic health condition
- The average welfare grant for a mother and two children in Illinois is $377 and has not been adjusted for inflation since 1972, approximately 30% of all working families in Illinois could be classified as the "working poor", that is earning less than 150% of the federal poverty level ($14,827 for a family of three).
- In Illinois, a worker earning minimum wage ($5.15 per hour) must work 116 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom unit at the area's fair market rent. In Chicago, the worker must work 133 hours for such a unit.
- Approximately 30% of all working families in Illinois could be classified as the "working poor", that is earning less than 150% of the federal poverty level ($14,827 for a family of three).
- In Illinois, a worker earning minimum wage ($5.15 per hour) must work 116 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom unit at the area's fair market rent. In Chicago, the worker must work 133 hours for such a unit.
The clients served by Interfaith Council for the Homeless consist of medium to large families. Ethnicity ranges from mostly African-American to Latino. Our client families have one or both parents and multiple children. The families' range from 3 to upwards of 8-9 children, average age being 9 years old. The number one cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing. Affordable housing, or the lack of it, combined with various other barriers have led to these families having no home of their own.
