Homeless Count About 600,000, New Study Says

A new study by the Urban Institute concludes that the number of homeless people in the United States is between 567,000 and 600,000.

That is far lower than estimates by some advocacy groups but substantially higher than the 250,000 to 350,000 estimated in a 1984 report by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The number of homeless in the United States has been bitterly disputed. HUD was criticized by advocacy groups as deliberately attempting to understate the problem of homelessness. Harvard Prof. Richard Freeman, who in 1986 estimated 350,000 homeless based on his own study, also was criticized.

‘Probably a Low Estimate’

Maria Foscarinis, Washington counsel for the National Coalition for the Homeless, said Thursday: “No one can present an accurate count; all we can do is estimate.” She said the Urban Institute figure “is probably a low estimate. Our estimate is 3 million.”

Martha Burt, co-author of the new study with Barbara Cohen, said they conducted a survey of more than 400 soup kitchens and homeless shelters in the nation’s largest cities, including New York, Los Angeles and others with major homelessness problems, to determine how many people used them.

The results, adjusted for less frequent use in suburbs and non-metropolitan areas, were then projected nationally.

The Urban Institute study, funded by the Agriculture Department’s Food and Nutrition Service, included more than 1,700 interviews with homeless users of soup kitchens or shelters. It found that 81% of the homeless were male, 54% were nonwhite and 51% were between 31 and 50 years old.

A fifth of those interviewed had been homeless for more than four years, but the median period of homelessness was 10 months. About 20% received government income support, and 25% had worked for pay during the last month. About 75% of the homeless were single or unattached adults and 15% were children.