by KYW's Pat Loeb
Philadelphia housing officials are anticipating a seasonal spike in one part of the homeless population.
You'd think warm weather would mean fewer people seeking emergency shelter and it's partly true. Leticia Hinton, director of the city's office of emergency shelter and services, says the number of single people seeking help goes down, but the number of homeless families goes up:
“Moms and dads have a tendency to come into the emergency housing system because they're looking at September or the end of August when many of the children who are school age have to go back to school.”
Gloria Guard of the People's Emergency Center expects the increase to be particularly high this year because of the economy and because federal policy has been working against families:
“The solution is that we rebalance the funding for homeless families that has a direct relevance to their numbers and their needs.”
E-Mail Story
Print Story
