Covid-19 has bitterly affected the life of the public, especially their health. The novel virus has exacerbated the national crisis and has also mishit the homeless people. Nowhere is this more evident than in the pandemic's influence on homelessness and affordable housing. Moreover, Covid-19 has posed different risks for the people already experiencing homelessness. Social services have become more inadequate throughout 2020 and 2021. And, along with this, the economic consequences of the pandemic have put more Americans at risk of turning homeless than ever before. Even the nation's capital is not left untouched by these challenges.
The public who were already in a homeless situation living in a city-sanctioned homeless camp has suffered profoundly and is still suffering. These people have suffered the pain of being homeless and have also been facing different health issues due to pandemics and the changing weather. In addition, social distancing has made them even sleep without a couch.
The realities of facing homelessness and the challenges of the pandemic are different for different families. However, according to the survey, the most considerable increase was among those facing chronic homelessness and those living unsheltered. Chronic homelessness increased by 15% between 2019 and 2020, a marker suggesting rising needs and vulnerabilities among the homeless population. Meanwhile, the report points to a 7% increase among individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness, marking the first time more individuals live unsheltered than in a shelter.
One of the significant setbacks seen during the tough time is racial inequality. Throughout the findings, racial inequality was persistent. It was seen that the African Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans were overrepresented among the homeless population. Despite representing only 13 percent of the total U.S. population, African Americans accounted for 39 percent of all people experiencing homelessness and 53 percent of people experiencing homelessness as members of families.
Another apparent reason observed was the local rent forgiveness policies. As a result, there was the largest annual increase in poverty in 2020 since the 1960s. Eight million people fell into poverty in 2020, increasing the rate to 11.8% in December 2020. The loss of employability of many daily and small wagers is challenging to rent the house, giving no other option than becoming homeless. This loss of employment became the largest reason for being homeless. Another reason for increasing the number of homeless was the students. In this pandemic, the students who earned and learned found it very hard to sustain in their previous lifestyle, making it hard for them to pay the rent and college fees as well. This led to the evacuation of the houses rented by students making them homeless.
Many NGOs and other societies came up to help the needy and homeless in the pandemic and even get them medical facilities and shelter. These non-profit organizations came up as a blessing for the people of America and helped them get the place to hide and save themselves in this pandemic. But the only issue of the reliefs was the inconsistency from state to state.
So, if you see someone figuring out how to become healthy and go back to normal life, help him approach us. Our Safe Heaven Care Foundation Inc. aims at providing shelter to the needy and homeless, and our programs and events will help him in the right way to come out of the trauma faced and live a normal life.