Report puts LI among highest homeless populations in US
A new report shows the number of homeless people nationally fell for the seventh straight year, but shows Long Island has one of the highest homeless populations for regions of its type. Greta Guarton,
News 12 Staff
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Nov 19, 2016, 3:46 AM
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Updated 2,715 days ago
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A new report shows the number of homeless people nationally fell for the seventh straight year, but shows Long Island has one of the highest homeless populations for regions of its type.
Greta Guarton, head of the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless, says there were 3,860 homeless people on the Island last year. This year there are 3,960, and more than half are children.
"The No. 1 reason, and in many cases the only reason, that those families are in shelters is because they lack the ability to afford housing in the area where they grew up," says Guarton.
The number of unsheltered homeless people rose nationally and here on Long Island. There were 64 counted here last year and almost double that number this year.
