Mayors Report on Hunger and Homelessness

On December 21, 2010 the U.S. Conference of Mayors released their annual report, the 2010 "Hunger and Homelessness Survey." For more than a quarter century, The Conference of Mayors has documented the magnitude of the issues of hunger and homelessness in our cities, as well as efforts cities are making to address these challenges. The report presents data collected on emergency food assistance and homelessness assistance services provided between September 1, 2009 and August 31, 2010.

Some Key findings:

• Every city surveyed reported that request for food assistance increased over the past year, and those requests increased by an average of 24 percent across the cities.
• Among those requesting food assistance, 56 percent were families.
• Unemployment led the list of causes of hunger cited by the survey, followed by high housing costs, low wages, poverty, and lack of access to SNAP/food stamps.
• Among households with children, unemployment led the list of causes for homelessness cited by city officials.
• Providing more mainstream assisted housing led the list of actions needed to reduce homelessness in the survey cities.
• Officials in 48 percent of the survey cities expect resources to provide emergency shelter to decrease over the next year.