Homeless Soccer Tournament Kicks Off

By Sam Wechsler - Talk Radio News Service

The 2009 Street Soccer USA (SSUSA) Cup kicked off Friday in Washington, DC at the Washington Kastles’ stadium.

The tournament consists of 16 teams, all comprised of homeless individuals, ranging from New York City to Los Angeles.

Some of the teams have been practicing several days a week in order to prepare for the tournament, while others have never played as a unit before.

The Finals are played Sunday afternoon at the Kastles’ stadium, and the winning team receives the Leonsis Trophy which is named after Ted Leonsis, a sponsor of the SSUSA Cup.

The top eight players in the tournament showing tremendous leadership, sportsmanship, and skill, will be chosen to represent the USA in the Homeless World Cup. Forty-eight countries will send national teams to the Homeless World Cup this September in Milan, Italy.

Homeless in America

In a special report on homelessness in Washington, D.C. and throughout the United States, Charles Slife discovers who is homeless, why they're homeless, and how the federal government is helping the large number of Americans with no roof over their head. (9:03)

The grim numbers of homelessness

The grim numbers are in and 1.6 million Americans are homeless. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) held a news conference to announce details of the 2007 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress.

Mark Johnston from the Office of Community Planning and Development at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said HUD works with over 3,800 cities and counties across the United States that represent 98 percent of the national population. He said this is the first homeless assessment that covers an entire year and will be used in the future to measure homeless populations. He said HUD focuses people who have nowhere permanent to sleep and are living either outside or in homeless facilities. Johnston said the United States has seen a 30 percent reduction in homeless rates since 2005.

Jill Khadduri, a researcher from Abt Associates Inc. and a contributor to the report, gave statistics concerning the homeless population. Among those statistics were that 77 percent of homelessness occurs in cities, 70 percent of the homeless are self-dependent, and that on any given night 57 percent of those seeking shelter in temporary housing facilities spent the previous night with family, friends, in jail, or at the hospital. Of the 1.6 million homeless in the United States, she said 69 percent are men, 57 percent are minorities, 55 percent are middle-aged, and 13 percent are veterans.

Dr. Dennis Culhane from the University of Pennsylvania discussed the 30 percent of the homeless population is comprised of families. He said 55 percent of homeless families are African-American and that homeless families require housing on average twice the amount of time individuals do. He also said the typical homeless family consists of a mother with two children, half of those children being under the age of six.

Johnston said tremendous federal resources have been devoted to assure a reduction in homeless. He said HUD has allocated $1.4 billion in the last several years to programs that provide housing, substance abuse and mental health therapy, and job training. He said the 40,000 permanent housing units provided have made a significant difference in lowering the rate of homelessness.