Reed Urges Congress To Tackle Homelessness

By Rachel Whitt

Though Capitol Hill remains mostly paralyzed in the aftermath of the Arizona shooting, some groups in Washington are returning to business as usual.

The National Alliance Against Homelessness released its first full-length report on homelessness in America during an event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. Speaking at the event, Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) saluted the Alliance’s continued focus on ending homelessness despite the current abated economy. He called on others to follow the group’s example.

“The Federal Government, state governments, local governments cannot tackle this issue alone,” Reed said. “We need this kind of partnership, that [the Alliance] has been the forefront of.” 

The Alliance announced that the homeless population in the U.S. increased almost 3% from 2008 to 2009, a period of time that coincides with the height of the recession. The group estimates that roughly 672,000 Americans are currently homeless. With the Labor Department reporting unemployment still at a high 9.4% this past December, Alliance officials say they expect the homeless population to also remain inflated. 

In Reed’s home state of Rhode Island, the number of families doubling up (living with multiple families in one house) increased by 90% during that same period of time, according to the Alliance report. Reed, a long time Congressional advocate for the homeless, specifically homeless vets, has co-sponsored numerous bills aimed at ending homelessness. They include the HEARTH Act of 2009 and the Zero Tolerance for Veterans Homelessness Act in 2010.

“We have to be more innovative [and] bring more ingenuity to the efforts,” Reed said. “More partnership, more collaboration, more of those things that will put people in homes.”