Homeless Children in NYC Nears Great Depression Levels

By Rebekah_Schilperoort Sep 11, 2012 2:37PM

Nineteen thousand homeless children are currently seeking help in New York City shelters, according to new data from the city. For comparison, 20,000 children were homeless in The Big Apple during the Great Depression.

The Daily News story profiles 14-year-old Francheska Luciano who spends her nights in one of the city's shelters. She said it's "like living in hell."

Luciano, who lives in a shelter with her family, said it's particularly difficult for her younger siblings.

"They’re young, they have no childhood, they don’t sleep well," she said. "It's not fair to them."

The number of homeless children in New York has grown 18 percent in the past year (view the city's report here).

"Not since the grim days of the Great Depression has New York City had 20,000 children sleeping homeless each night," said Patrick Markee, a senior policy analyst with the Coalition for the Homeless.

The coalition said that with "no housing assistance in place to help families move out of shelter and into permanent housing, the city is on track to reach the unthinkable milestone of 20,000 homeless kids before year's end."

"Study after study show children who become homeless do worse in school as well as suffer in their physical and mental health development," a statement from the coalition reads.

There are currently 1.6 million homeless children living in the United States.

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Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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Sep 11, 2012 9:34PM

It seems odd that $60million annually is necessary to maintain the 9/11 memorial yet the city of New York allows 20,000 children to remain homeless. Do not get me wrong, I wish to remember the lives that were lost on 9/11, but at what expense? Nation wide the number is greater than 1.6million children homeless. Priorities in this country leave a lot to be addressed. Hungry and homeless children are a disgrace. This country has suffered and recovered from loss many times but the loss of our children due to neglect is unforgiveable and especially reprehensive in such an affluent country. I am a mother and grandmother and rest assured I will see to it that my children and grandchildren remember all of the good and the bad things that have happened here. God bless us all.

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Not Old Just Wise

Sep 11, 2012 9:48PM

Don't blame it entirely on politicians (although they are out of hand in this country.) Blame it on pure American greed. Years ago, we saved and paid cash for quality, American made products. Then, unions got greedy and American made products became more and more expensive. How did companies get their sales to increase? By shipping American jobs to cheaper, foreign markets. How did the average American react? Head over heels happy. We buy, buy, buy. We get ourselves in debt. We buy houses we can't afford, luxury cars, "brand" name clothes. If we ALL went back to saving our money, paying cash for most items, purchasing homes that are sufficient (imagine, kids sharing bedrooms and families sharing bathrooms again let alone television sets - the horror!), buying quality instead of quantity, it would help this country a heck of a lot. THIS, in turn would help EVERYONE including these homeless children.

P.S. TERM LIMITS on ALL politicians from the local level right up through federal.

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Natasha Grace

Sep 11, 2012 10:29PM

I live in Ga. and our town has 9000.00 who sleep in missions , shelters, and churches. It is sad. They keep saying there are more jobs, but i cant see them. My friends in Pa. and Fla. dont see them. I feel so helpless. I make 40 loaves of bread a week and take it to the mission but that doesnt begin to feed these people. I make totes to give to the kids because they have to keep their clothes in garbage bags.. It doesnt even scratch the surface. Instead of fighting on these sites we should be banding together to try and figure out what we all can do. This is when we all need to eat one less meal a day and give the money to the shelters and missions.

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jody hill

Sep 11, 2012 9:13PM

I thought obama said everything is getting better?

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cherhatz

Sep 11, 2012 9:39PM

We are the United State of America!! How the hell do we have children sleeping in the streets, living in shelters?? WTF is not even good enough - how can we send our troops overseas & tell everyone else how to live when our own people are living like homeless cats? I find this to be sad & disgusting - I wish I knew what the solution is. As a parent this breaks my heart.

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Prometheus

Sep 11, 2012 9:57PM

Pathetic Priorities,

I empathize with the poor, the homeless and the disenfranchised, but the improvement of their lot in life does not rest solely upon what president we have or think we need. This is a matter of national priorities and it begins and ends with those who make policy and pass laws ... our Congress.

As a nation we seem to have absolutely no problem with giving unimaginable amounts of foreign aid to dozens of countries who hate us. We have no difficulty coming up with $2 Billion per week for 11 years with our senseless war in Afghastlystan'. We also have plenty of money for unwarranted incentives to 'Big Oil' and tens of $ billions that go to the corrupt and bloated military / industrial complex composed of the Halliburtons, Blackwaters, Raytheons and their ilk.

Our priorites as a country and as an ethical and moral society have been co-opted by the needs and the sheer monetary power of big corporations who literally own our 'esteemed' 100 Senators and 435 Congressmen on Capitol Hill, (should be spelled Capital Hill) to do their bidding to insure the profit-imperative at absolutely all costs.

There is plenty of money in this country, but there is little or no will for our elected criminals to do the right things with it, and as a society we should be ashamed of ourselves for allowing it to continue and condoning the misery and plight of so many other of our fellow Americans from every walk of life.

Peace to all ~

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dissapointed250

Sep 11, 2012 9:58PM

This situation is outragous. The "Government" spends millions upon millions for frivolous pet projects but will not even try to help those in need in our own country. Since the last election I have lost my job that I had for 20 years and there are not any jobs in the area that will even come close to paying what I was making, and on top of that, I have to fight with those in charge just to help with training for another career field. Obama said that things are better since he has been in office, but he has no idea how hard it is to support a family these days. Thanks for reading and I will get off my soapbox for now.

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thomas featheringha (chipolds45)

Sep 11, 2012 10:15PM

Although I do not like the way the current government is handling situations like these, the real question is why so many young women continue to have children, when they are not financially capable of taking care of them. There has to be a limit on how much the government can assist the young women who continue to get pregnant time after time and expect the government to pick up the tab. As for the rest of the homeless children and families who have lost their jobs and homes, the government should put them all ahead of foreign aid. We should take care of our own first, and then help the rest of the world.

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Homeless Children in NYC Nears Great Depression Levels

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